A FORMER prison chief Barry Greenberry fears for the security of weapons held in Hobart’s Risdon Prison after two men smashed into the jail reception and escaped unchallenged.
Barry Greenberry, Tasmania’s prison director until April this year, commenting yesterday on the incident on Monday [25 November] labelled the jail a “laughing stock”. Mr Greenberry also raised serious concerns about the security of a large armoury of firearms and munitions held at the Prison.
He told the Australian newspaper: “The prison retains a large armoury of weapons for use by the tactical response group not far from reception.”
“What would have happened if villains had broken in and taken guns, ammunition and dangerous pyrotechnics from the jail? This security breach raises very serious questions about the capability of the prison to hold these weapons securely and maintain the safety of the general public.”
As reported on ABC TV in the early hours of Monday two men in a stolen ute smashed through a prison boom gate and then broke into the prison’s reception area. Apparently nothing was taken and prison management called it an act of vandalism.
As has been publicised in recent months there has also been an apparent surge in thefts of guns in Tasmania.
Mr Greenberry told The Australian newspaper that Risdon prison’s tactical response armoury was “not far” from the raided reception area.
Mr Greenberry: “I cannot believe staff failed to apprehend anyone driving through the security barrier and breaking in to the prison reception.”
Mr Greenberry said the break-in also raised questions about whether the public should “trust prison management to be in control of lethal weapons”.
“It may reopen the debate as to why a prison needs such items and whether it would be cheaper, safer and more appropriate for the police to be the only trained staff to have access to such weapons.”
Corrective Services director Robert Williams called the incident “an act of pure vandalism”. He would not comment on whether the prison had reviewed armoury security arrangements in light of the incident.
Mr Greenberry was selected as the new Prison’s Director under a 5-year contract in 2012 after the Mike Palmer review of the prison’s culture and operations. He moved to Tasmania in mid-2012 from Britain to drive reform at the troubled prison but resigned in April 2013. His departure followed the trading of accusations and counter-accusations between Mr Greenberry and other senior prison managers and staff, in what appeared to have become a bitter power struggle. The surprise resignation and Tasmanian Integrity Commission’s handling of Mr Greenberry’s complaint alleging maladministration & mismanagement within the Department of Justice is now the subject of a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry.
[b]REFERENCES:[/b]
Security Questions as two men break into Risdon Prison – ABC News 27 November 2013
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-27/security-questions-as-two-men-break-into-risdon-prison/5121188
Ex-jail chief says armoury at risk after ute ram raid – The Australian 30 November 2013
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/ex-jail-chief-says-armoury-at-risk-after-ute-ram-raid/story-e6frg6nf-1226771769608#sthash.Q3bKJpOV.dpuf
Vandals break into Risdon Jail in Tasmania
http://www.smh.com.au/national/vandals-break-into-risdon-jail-in-tasmania-20131128-2ydsh.html
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