Bomb latest in jail incidents

Press, 24 June 1978, Page 9

Bomb latest in jail incidents

GNZPA Sydney ■ A bomb exploded at Long I Bay jail in Sydney on Thursday night, shattering winl.dows but causing no serious ,-damage and no injuries, i: A full inquiry has begun ; I into the explosion, the latest -jin a series of escapes and 11other incidents recently. The New South Wales i i Premier (Mr Neville Wran) ;; said it appeared “almost too lj coincidental” that so many 1 j escapes and other incidents -ihad occurred at Long Bay. : Observers said the inquiry comes as yet another blow “Ito the state’s Corrective Ser- ■ vices Department, which has i been conducting several in'iquiries in recent months. -' On Thursday several Long '(Bay prisoners appeared in i| court on indecent assault! y charges, after thei. dis-j •jeovery, semi-naked, in a cel’! - on Wednesday. > Prison officers yesterday ) I morning began a campaign i -!of refusing to accept new in-j L mates at the jail, in Syd-1 •iney’s eastern suburbs. The bombing occurred in | - wing 12 of the Metropolitan; : j Remand Centre. t A prison officer walking ■jin a corridor between cells j Ijat 7.10 p.m., heard an ex-| plosion, and was pelted with

■ dust and debris as the perI cussion from a time bomb | tore plaster, cement, and fittings from the building. ; When the 'lust cleared the | officer saw electric wires leading from cell No. 14 in ; the wing. He found a second •bomb, believed to be' made (from five sticks of gelignite (with an electric detonator. The i Army bomb disposal unit and police ballistic i squad worked for 30 minutes | before defusing tti>' second bomb.