CORRECTIVE services are investigating claims of a riot that involved 28 inmates behaving “aggressively” at the Alexander Maconochie Centre last night (May 12).

The incident started with inmates becoming aggressive and not following prison guards orders, a spokesman for the Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS) said.

Fire crews and police attended at about 7.30pm last night. No-one was injured, but one accommodation unit was damaged.

“Corrections officers acted quickly and professionally to resolve the incident,” the spokesman said.

“Officers successfully negotiated with the detainees and the matter was resolved when detainees became compliant with directions.”

The details of the incident have so far been vague, forcing shadow corrections minister Elizabeth Kikkert to question Corrections Minister Mick Gentleman about the riot during question time in the Legislative Assembly this afternoon.

Concerned, Mr Kikkert said the situation post-riot has been reminiscent to the downplaying of the riot in November last year when the directorate only released a few details 12 hours after the fact.

“The government was forced to apologise for not revealing the full extent of the last riot, I hope it will not do the same this time,” she said.

“This is the second riot to have occurred under the watch of Minister Gentleman. In December 2020, he said that supporting corrections staff was a key priority for him and created a new oversight committee.

“Since then, we have learned that the government has been doing a woeful job of providing essential training to our corrections officers and putting them in positions where they must work enormous amounts of overtime.

“Corrections officers have so far not seen a significant change in the culture of the AMC and fear that, despite the oversight committee, the new commissioner and Minister Gentleman’s new plan, it is business as usual within the prison.”

Ms Kikkert said Minister Gentleman needs to clearly outline what is being done to improve the prison, saying it looks like things are getting worse.

“The head of the oversight committee was appointed in February,” she said.

“If the minister wants to signal that change is coming, he must take decisive action. He does not need an oversight committee to tell him that the AMC needs more staff or that our officers need more training.”

‘Serious’ riot underway at the prison