ALLEGEDLY “drunk” prisoners at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) lit a fire in the prison that caused up to $3.7 million in damages in May last year, a Critical Incident Review has found.

Inspector of correctional services, Neil McAllister tabled the Critical Incident Review yesterday (April 7) which states the fire was lit in a double storey high security-rated cell block by several detainees who were allegedly drunk on “home brew”.

It states detainees started acting aggressively towards corrections officers, and fires were lit in the unit causing thick smoke and damage.

Officers withdrew from the unit, and AMC staff fought the fires from outside the unit.

For the first time in AMC’s history, OC (“pepper”) spray was used on detainees who were attempting to hinder firefighting efforts.

“Fortunately, there were no significant injuries to staff or detainees and staff did a good job in dealing with multiple fires in the unit” Mr McAllister said.

“Although the incident had a significant impact, including in terms of the estimated repair bill of over $3.7 million, and the operational impact of forcing a large unit offline for almost a year in an already crowded jail.”

Mr McAllister said lack of a so-called “structured day” for the unit was a contributing factor to the unrest.

“When detainees are bored and locked in units on a daily basis, they turn their minds to ways to break the monotony,” said Mr McAllister.

The Critical Incident Review found that almost all detainees were in their unit during the day in question and noted that in other jails detainees would be engaged across the jail in work, industries, education, programs, recreation, and other activities.

The review noted “some improvements” in AMC’s management of an incident of this kind, particularly through improved senior command structures, however, its stated many of the lessons identified from a riot in November 2020 were yet to be fully implemented.

This included staff access to appropriate tactical personal protective equipment, and staff training in incident control.

“A key recommendation from this review is that the emergency management framework be finalised as a priority, even if further resources are required to achieve this,” said Mr McAllister.