Ten male inmates broke into a female prison during a jail breakout last month.
The men had used stolen angle grinders to break into the women’s unit of Western Australia’s Greenough Regional Prison unit during a 12-hour riot.
It was also revealed by the Justice Department that the morning-after pill – used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex – was offered to dozens of female prisoners in the wake of the riot.
This was offered despite claims from the women that none of them were sexually assaulted by the men.
The riot was made very public as during the incident a female prisoner contacted Seven News using an office phone, while male inmates broke into the women’s section.
She told Seven News: “Some of the girls are scared because you’ve got a whole bunch of aggro men running around.
“They climbed on to the roof and made their way into the girls’ unit and smashed all the windows and everything.
“They’re trying to throw bricks through windows and lighting all the couches on fire.”
A male prisoner then interrupted the phone call to make his own comments on the riot.
He claimed they’d only broken into the women’s unit to protect them.
All 10 prisoners were successfully recaptured by police and guards, with the incident going down as the largest jailbreak in Western Australia’s history.
Paul Ledingham, acting secretary of the Prison Officers’ Union, revealed details of the riot and subsequent escape.
He said: “There were bricks, debris. My understanding is prisoners got access to maintenance equipment and angle grinders.
“They were essentially looking to get into unit four, which is the female unit, and using cordless angle grinders to do so, and they did so successfully.”
Mr Ledingham didn’t confirm whether any of the female inmates had been assaulted, although did not refute any speculation outright.
He added: “If you’ve got riotous behaviour that goes for 10 to 12 hours in a prison under the cover of darkness where males and females are concerned, I think anyone’s imagination may lead them to think that there were things going on.”
All the men now face additional charges on top of their sentences.
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