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Convicted killer Max Sica moved from maximum security prison

Massimo “Max” Sica who was jailed for three life sentences for the brutal murders of the Singh siblings is enjoying a “campus style life” behind bars at a Brisbane jail.

7News can reveal that only two years into a 35-year sentence, Sica has been moved from high security to a residential complex within the jail where he is free to roam, play tennis, work out at the gym and has a cell to himself.

Prison officers at the Wolston Correctional Centre where Sica is incarcerated said the pressures of overcrowding had overtaken the normal progression of inmates through the system.

The Singh family and the Queensland Homicide Victims’ Support Group today condemned the move.

Sica has been behind bars since December 2008 after he was arrested for the murders of his former girlfriend Neelma, 24, and her brother Kunal, 18, and sister Sidhi, 12.

The Singhs were found dead in an overflowing hot spa at their parent's Bridgeman Downs home in Brisbane's northern suburbs on April 22, 2003.

Sica was jailed for a record minimum of 35 years in July 2012.

The police investigation found Sica strangled Neelma and then beat her with a garden fork, he drowned Kunal and bashed Sidhi.

Prison officers told 7News the killer was moved out of secure custody within the last six months.

However other prisoners such as “Red light killer” Francis Michael Fahey, who was jailed in 2006 for 25 years for the murder of two Brisbane prostitutes, remain in the jail’s high security section.

Sica - a violent career criminal and serial arsonist before he committed the Singh murders - still has a high security classification.

The 45-year-old father has been psychologically assessed as having psychopathic traits. He was jailed for nine years in 1993 after pleading guilty to committing 82 crimes during a rampage in 1990 in which he and a gang burnt down a Brisbane police station, tried to burn down another and set fire to several schools.

While on parole for those offences in 1997, Sica hurled a Molotov cocktail at a flat in Brisbane’s West End and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

He was released in 2001 when the Brisbane Supreme Court overturned the parole board’s decision not to release him in 1999 and 2000 because of the risk he posed of re-offending.

Sica is now housed in an area that is far more relaxed and usually houses prisoners with a lower security classification, officers said.

Max Sica has been in this prison since 2008.
Max Sica has been in this prison since 2008.

Prisoners in the high security section of the jail have a more regimented and restricted life with officers controlling their daily movements, access and activities. The inmates in secure custody are in 50-man units – many of which are doubled up due to overcrowding, officers told 7News.

Inmates in the jail’s residential area are free to move throughout the compound which is about the size of two to three football fields.

Their cells are left unlocked. The compound consists of 24-man cell blocks broken into four lots of six single-cell units. Each block has a laundry and a kitchenette where the inmates can microwave food they purchase. There are also two communal showers and toilets.

Here the inmates can freely access a gym and two tennis courts and can have their pick of jobs in the jail, officers said.

As the Singh family prepares for the eleventh anniversary of Neelma, Kunal and Sidhi, their mother Shirley called on Queensland prison authorities to return Sica to high security.

“It’s very upsetting yes … even thought he was sentenced to 35years, his life is changing but look at us … we are serving life imprisonment,’’ a furious Mrs Singh said.

“He should be locked up, he shouldn’t even be allowed visitors,’’ she said.

Shirley Singh is outraged her childrens' killer's conditions have been relaxed.
Shirley Singh is outraged her childrens' killer's conditions have been relaxed.

The Queensland Homicide Victims’ Support Group said Corrective Services handling of Sica’s placement sent the wrong message to victims’ families.

General Manager Ross Thompson told 7News Sica had no shown no remorse for his crimes and should remain in the high security section of Wolston jail.

“Max Sica doesn’t deserve this sort of treatment. This is not justice for a triple murderer, it’s a slap in the face to the family,’’ he said.

Mr Thompson, who visits Queensland jails as part of his role, said he was aware of the prisoner integration system and Sica had not served enough time to be placed in the residential compound.

“Max Sica has a lifetime to go and should not be in this easy environment,’’ he said.

Union officials yesterday said Queensland jails were “bursting at the seams” under the Newman government with increasing incarceration rates and a reduction in release rates.

Together Union Industrial Services Director Michael Thomas said there had been a significant spike in prisoner numbers.
“This has resulted in significant overcrowding around the state and in every jail, prisoners are doubled up in cells, with many sleeping on mattresses on the floor. This in turn is creating significant pressure on management to move prisoners into less secure forms of accommodation – maximum security into residential and residential onto prison farms,’’ he said.

Mr Thomas said the Queensland prison system was in crisis and unprecedented decisions were being made in managing inmates’ progression through the system.

“We already know overcrowding increases risks of escapes from prison farms and we have seen that this week and now dangerous killers are being housed in residential sections of jails before they are ready. The community has a right to wonder how someone as dangerous and remorseless as Sica would be deemed as suitable to have his security relaxed,’’ he said.

In a statement to 7News, Queensland Corrective Services said it was unable to comment on the management of individual prisoners due to safety and security considerations.

“Wolston Correctional Centre is a high security facility. Prison placement within the centre is based upon a suitability assessment for each individual prisoner, not capacity,’’ a spokesman said.