Prison rampage as warders strike

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33527, 7 May 1974, Page 17

Prison rampage as warders strike

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

BRISBANE, May 6.

Prisoners in the Boggo Road gaol, in Brisbane, were reported to be under control today, after a rampage believed to have caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Police have been supervising them since prison officers walked off the job at noon yesterday. Prisoners started fires, and destroyed their mattresses and bedding and all wooden furniture in their cells.

One prisoner was badly burned in his cell soon after police took over from the warders. He had set fire to bedding, and police, . unused to the use of cell keys, were unable to get him out before he was burnt. He was treated in the prison hospital by a prison officer medical orderly. The acting Minister of Prisons (Mr Knox) said police had firm instructions

to take whatever action was necessary to ensure security. He said: “If an attempt is made to riot or escape, that’s what the police have guns for.” “We have 600 prisoners at the gaol. Some of them are the most dangerous criminals in Australia,” Mr Knox said. "We don’t intend to release them prematurely.” He criticised the prison officers for staying on strike so long, and called them “deserters.”

Prison officers, working in three shifts around the clock, are picketing the prison to make certain no officers from other gaols are used.