A journey through the 'belly of the beast' - Part 3

This is the third of a three part series.  Part one can be read here and part two here.

The ramifications of the 1997 Melbourne Cup Day mass escape from the Sir David Longland Correctional Centre (SDLCC) reinforced an atmosphere of never-ending punitive sanctions. Russell Cooper’s political knee-jerk reaction compounded an already dangerous situation within the Queensland prison system.

The installation of cladding minimised sunlight and fresh air in the cells and exercise yards of B Block and pricked a festering boil of anger and frustration. The fact that B7 (the Murri unit) was left untouched as a result of the Black Deaths in Custody recommendations, had an effect of reinforcing a view that there were two rules - one for white prisoners and one for Murri prisoners.

Garny Mickelo, a lifer and the elder statesman of all Murri prisoners in the Centre at that time, demanded that his people be accorded the same sanctions as other prisoners in the Centre. SDLCC prison administrators turned a deaf ear to his protestations.

In a tense climate where aggression, anger and frustration are predominant factors, the added ingredient of racism creates a volatile mixture that is commonplace inside US prisons, but until then had never been experienced in Australian prisons. That situation changed dramatically.

In July 1998 a Murri prisoner, Leon Wallace, staged a three-hour rooftop protest at SDLCC and the information was leaked to Courier-Mail journalists Doneman and Targett by SDLCC prison guards.

Relying on information spoon-fed from “official prison sources” the unsuspecting journalists reported that the roof-top protest had occurred because: “Officers said Leon Wallace had asked to be taken out of the detention unit and placed on protection because he feared other prisoners.” The consequence of Wallace being branded a “protected prisoner” was equivalent to prison officials and The Courier-Mail delivering him a death sentence inside the prison sub-culture of a maximum-security facility

Following publication in The Courier-Mail a Queensland Department of Corrective Services (QDCS) spokesperson said there had been no request for protection on record from Wallace and that he had told staff he was upset over being given a lengthy sentence for assaulting two Woodford prison guards. Despite attempts to water down the situation the damage was done and Wallace became a marked man inside SDLCC.

On September 21, 1998, prison guards again provoked racial tension inside B Block at SDLCC. It resulted in two prisoners, Anthony “Bikie" Barnes and Andrew "Mugwa" Kranz being assaulted by a group of Murri prisoners inside the “spine” of B Block. The two prisoners were “canned” (assaulted with cans of baked beans packed into socks) and again racial tension escalated inside the prison and eventually spread to other prisons throughout Queensland.

On September 24, 1998 SDLCC became the first racially segregated prison in Australia when Nimal DeSilva, the then General Manager of SDLCC, made B Block a “whites only” cell-block. The prison was locked down and all Indigenous prisoners were transferred out of B Block into C Block.

The prison bakery was also segregated as “whites only” and Indigenous prisoners were not allowed to be employed. A fax authorised by Mike Exton, Administration and Finance Manager at SDLCC, was clear in its demand:

Please be advised that due to the current racial tension between Murri and white inmates at this Centre ONLY WHITE inmates are permitted to attend work at this stage until further advised. This arrangement is under the direction of Administration and Finance Manager, Mike Exton.

Could you please advise trade instructors in the main kitchen of this arrangement ASAP.

The significance of racism being fostered by prison authorities inside the belly of the beast was never reported in the media. The legislative tourniquet that restricted the information flow from Queensland prisons kept Queenslanders blissfully unaware of what was happening inside the taxpayer funded prison system.

B Block inside SDLCC houses 90 mainstream prisoners and is classed as the unofficial dumping ground for prisoners not wanted in other prisons. The incentive to reduce prison sentences by good behaviour had been removed and it was incumbent upon maximum security prisoners to while away time by exercising or watching TV. There was no incentive to undertake education courses. Becoming bad or mad remained a legitimate option for survival inside the incarceration process of B Block.

The psychological impact of zero tolerance incarceration and the removal of incentive systems with threats of further punishment had no merit inside the confines of B Block. You cannot take anything from a prisoner who has nothing. Prisoners began adopting other measures to while away their time in maximum security - measures that are not conducive to any concept of rehabilitation.

The emergence of the drug trade inside maximum-security prisons replaced the tobacco and SP bookmaking rackets that had been tolerated for decades. Illicit home brewed alcohol has been replaced with heroin as a prison panacea to relieve hopelessness, desperation and the sheer boredom of incarceration during the 1990s. Heroin became the unofficial remission of prison sentences.

And if prison was still the university of crime during the 1990s then the Sir David Longland Correctional Centre at Richlands, Queensland, became a new-age "Gladiator's School" where murder, suicide and unnatural deaths became the accepted norm. Release via heroin or a body bag became the preferred option to continued zero tolerance incarceration.

Despite this evidence submitted to the UnitingCare Inquiry the minister debunked the final report by claiming in the Queensland media that it contained unsubstantiated allegations that were “based on interviews with 10 ex-prisoners and submissions from 10 ex-prisoners who may or may not have been the same people …”

The fact that ex-prisoners were the only ones available from whom to elicit information is because the QDCS had obstructed the inquiry from having access to current serving prisoners. In addition Queensland Governments of both political persuasions continue to legislate against the media having access to Queensland prisoners or its prisoners. 

Where does the Hon Judy Spence MP, Minister for Police and Corrective Services, expect the Queensland public to receive a balanced and objective insight into its prison system if she continues to hide behind restrictive legislation and obfuscation that denies that very transparency? Does the minister contend that departmental media releases are the answer to transparency in the Queensland prison system?

Is it the ministerial contention that spin doctors from QDCS and her own department should dictate the degree of transparency for the public’s tax-payer funded correctional facilities? The Queensland public has a right to know what is really happening inside its correctional facilities because what is happening in there now will eventually rebound on society in 5, 10 or 15 years time when the current minister has long gone. The Queensland public also has a right to know, free from any political spin placed on the facts.

The minister dismissed the report as “unsubstantiated allegations” which has a flip side that reads “unpalatable accusations that require immediate ventilation in a public forum”.

The UnitingCare report recommends a full and open public inquiry into the Queensland prison system. The minister has rejected that recommendation and clings to a flimsy hope that departmental and ministerial media releases will assuage public interest in continued demands for transparency of its prison system.

There is an old saying on the prison exercise yard - you can fool some of the people some of the time. But madam minister, you cannot fool all the people all the time.