Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre staff consider cease work after violence

The youth justice centre recorded another outbreak of violence on Tuesday, this time involving inmates.

One young person was taken to hospital after the incident, but has since been released.

It was the fourth violent incident at the centre in the past four weeks.

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Community and Public Sector Union spokesperson Julian Kennelly said incidents such as this created trauma for staff around coming to work.

Mr Kennelly said the union wanted a guarantee that the site would not fully open to run as normal unless it was fully staffed.

He said without full staffing, staff were exposed and vulnerable to assault.

Mr Kennelly said staff were talking about a cease work similar to that held in 2019, which followed another series of violent incidents.

He said staff were awaiting the outcome of WorkSafe inspections, which the Department had until October to comply with.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesperson said Victoria Police had been notified of the Tuesday incident.

They said no staff were involved in the incident, and it was contained quickly.

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"The Department of Justice and Community Safety takes the security of Youth Justice centres extremely seriously and violence is not tolerated," they said.

"To improve safety within youth justice centres we've introduced dynamic risk assessments, additional behaviour support specialists, targeted behavioural programs and an Intensive Intervention Unit for the most high-risk young people in custody."

Last week, a Community and Public Sector Union Victoria spokesperson said staff was becoming increasingly worried about its safety and wellbeing.

It came after a staff member was treated for upper body injuries, and taken to hospital in a stable condition after being attacked on July 26.

A staff member was also taken to hospital for assessment after an incident on Tuesday August 3.

On July 19 a staff member was also taken to hospital after an assault, in which he was punched, kicked in the face, was missing teeth and had swelling and abrasions around his head and face.

The Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre has been plagued by violent incidents for several years, including a spate of assaults in 2019 and 2018.

The Bendigo Advertiser reported in 2016 that a rapid increase of young offenders being placed on remand in the youth justice system had created "dangerous" conditions at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre.

That year WorkSafe issued an improvement notice to the facility, after 41 incidents of "occupational violence towards staff" in August.

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