Brawling bikies drunk in jail
Two bikies were allegedly drunk when prison guards broke up a brawl involving up to eight inmates at maximum-security Hakea Prison last month.
The Department of Corrective Services confirmed the Lone Wolf gang members and two associates were made to have breath tests on May 29 after the fight inside their cell block with four other men.
One bikie is understood to have blown over 0.15 — three times the legal driving limit.
A search of the men's cells also revealed a litre of home-brewed alcohol.
The incident forced the department to defend the way it manages bikies at Hakea, including the practice of permitting members of the same gang to live side-by-side in cell blocks.
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Hakea, which is mainly a remand facility, is home to up to 10 Lone Wolf members and associates awaiting trial after a series of recent drug operations run by the national anti-gangs task force.
Most are understood to be living together in one wing while similar arrangements are believed to be in place for a big group of Comanchero bikies in another part of the jail.
Shadow corrective services minister Paul Papalia accused the department of allowing gangs to set up “mini-clubhouses” behind bars where they were free to collude, recruit and intimidate other inmates or staff.
“It sounds as though this Government has conceded control of the prisons to gangs ... I just can’t understand it,” Mr Papalia said.
Department executive director of operational services Tony Hassall refused to comment on specific security arrangements for bikies at Hakea.
But he said great care was taken when deciding where to place any inmate in the jail network and changes could be implemented swiftly if issues were identified.
Other agencies including police were consulted regularly in the risk assessment process.
“We manage the risks that they (bikies) present like any other prisoners and we have got a number of levers we can pull if we need to,” Mr Hassall said.
WA has 10 bikie gangs and six have members behind bars.
Mr Hassall said keeping rival gangs apart was also an issue prisons had to manage, which sometimes made it unavoidable to split up members of the same groups.
