The Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) was the site of yet another riot late Wednesday evening with fire crews attending the centre around 7:30pm.

Public details are scarce and when asked about the riot during Question Time in the Legislative Assembly today, the Corrections Minister failed to provide many more details.

Shadow Corrections Minister Elizabeth Kikkert said the situation post-riot has been concerningly reminiscent of the downplaying of the last riot in November last year, with the Directorate having revealed only a few details 12 hours after the fact.

“The government was forced to apologise for not revealing the full extent of the last riot, I hope it will not do the same this time,” said Mrs Kikkert.

“This is the second riot to have occurred under the watch of Minister Gentleman. In December 2020, he said that supporting corrections staff was a key priority for him and created a new oversight committee.

“Since then, we have learned that the government has been doing a woeful job of providing essential training to our Corrections Officers and putting them in positions where they must work enormous amounts of overtime.

“Corrections Officers have so far not seen a significant change in the culture of the AMC and fear that, despite the oversight committee, the new commissioner and Minister Gentleman’s new plan, it is business as usual within the prison.

“The minister needs to clearly outline what is being done to improve the prison because, right now, it looks like things are getting worse. The head of the oversight committee was appointed in February.

“What do we know about this new blueprint that is supposed to be created? How often have committee members met? What recommendations have they given to the government?

“If the minister wants to signal that change is coming, he must take decisive action. He does not need an oversight committee to tell him that the AMC needs more staff or that our officers need more training.

“I would like to thank our corrections officers for their bravery and want them to know that they are appreciated by me for the work they do,” Mrs Kikkert concluded.