Police are investigating after a lengthy stand-off where two young male prisoners managed to climb onto the roof of Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre at St Marys on Monday, and remained there for more than nine hours.
In what was described by a spokesperson as an “impulsive act”, the inmates broke out at about 10am on Monday, August 8, and came down voluntarily at around 7.30pm that night.
In footage posted by the Seven Network on Twitter, the duo were seen to be throwing debris from the roof of one of the detention units, and appeared to be kicking off air vents, and breaking off pipes and parts of a metal air conditioner.
The young males were taken back into custody when they came down.
A spokesperson for the centre confirmed the incident did occur and investigations will now be carried out.
“Juvenile Justice can confirm that there was an incident at Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre in St Marys on Monday, August 8,” the spokesperson said.
“Two detainees climbed onto the roof of an internal unit and voluntarily came down from the roof at 7.30pm that night following negotiations with Juvenile Justice staff. The matter has now been referred to the police and Juvenile Justice will conduct a review of the incident.”
Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre is the principle remand centre in NSW for males aged 15 years and over.
The centre accommodates up to 105 young people primarily from the Sydney metropolitan area and offers a range of services, programs and interventions to address individual needs and reduce offending.
It also has the capacity to hold 31 young males in a separate unit who pose increased safety risks to themselves and others and require additional security measures.
