Two high-risk juvenile detainees are in a four-hour stand-off with guards at a NSW justice centre after using a fire extinguisher to smash open a fire exit and scale onto the roof.
The detainees have been throwing rocks at passing cars and attempting to damage the roof with a metal pole.
One is believed to have hurt his leg in the stand-off.
“Juvenile Justice staff are currently negotiating with two detainees, who gained access to the roof of Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre just before 9.30 this morning,” a Juvenile Justice spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman did not answer questions about the boys’ ages, what staff were doing to get them down, how they got on the roof and what demands they had.
It comes as tensions surrounding juvenile detainees hit boiling point between the government and the union that represents the guards, the Public Service Association
This is the second time this year detainees have climbed onto the roof at NSW juvenile justice centres.
Six detainees had a 10-hour standoff with guards after climbing onto the roof at the Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre in January.
PSA General Secretary Stewart Little said there was an urgent need for therapeutic centres in our juvenile justice centres to manage high-risk detainees.
“A lack of proper investment by the NSW government in rehabilitation for juvenile offenders means that you have the worst-of-the-worst leading young offenders astray,” he said.
“Our members are constantly at risk of violence, because there is no appropriate management of detainees based on their risk level.”
Last month Corrective Minister David Elliott announced the government would investigate specialists units with up to 10 beds for high-risk offenders.
He said more frontline staff would be rostered on and there would be an immediate review of its sanctions to see if harsher penalties should be applied “when a detainee misbehaves.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/detainees-at-riverina-juvenile-justice-centre-in-standoff-with-guards/news-story/f5f2080c507a28828af0676334023bfd