Mr. Kirkup questions the Minister for Corrective Services about how Greenough prisoners knew about and accessed a secure room with tools used in their escape. The Minister acknowledges the incident and ongoing investigation.

AnsweredQoN 515Legislative Assembly
Asked
14 August 2018
Portfolio
Corrective Services

QuestionView source ↗

GREENOUGH REGIONAL
PRISON — CRITICAL INCIDENT
515. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Corrective
Services:
I have a supplementary question. Can
the minister confirm that prisoners who escaped from Greenough Regional Prison
knew about and accessed a room containing angle grinders and ladders that
prisoners were not meant to know about; and, if so, how did they become aware
of that secure location and, again, what actions has the minister undertaken to
identify it was about the regional prison riot and blackout —
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
The SPEAKER : Minister for
Water!
Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP : What
actions has the minister undertaken to identify how those prisoners became
aware —
Point of Order
Mr D.A.
TEMPLEMAN : There are three questions in that supplementary. It is
not a supplementary question.
The
SPEAKER : No. I will accept one.
Questions Without Notice Resumed
Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP : How did the
prisoners at Greenough Regional Prison become aware of a secret and secure room
that contained the tools and ladders?

AnswerView source ↗

That will all come out in the report
being undertaken by Ms Jan Shuard. But as to the claim about the maintenance
area being a secret and secure room, I have no idea how they found that out. I am
sure that they made access to that room through climbing onto the roof, through
part of the administrative block and straight into that area. How they knew
about the tools in that room, I do not know, member for Dawesville. We will
find that out as part of the investigation. However, when I found out, as he
knows—I told the media—I immediately demanded that the
commissioner ensure that every battery-powered tool, power tool and ladder be
taken outside the prison perimeter fence in all prisons across Western Australia,
for obvious reasons.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more