Fremantle Prison riot
At Fremantle Prison on January 4, 1988 with recorded temperatures of 52.2c inside the cells a prison riot took place. Seventy prisoners took control of 3 and 4 divisions, taking 6 officers hostage. The rioters caused a large fire which caused AUD$1.8 million damage.
A little before 4pm two prisoners were brought in from the division 3 exercise yards to deliver tea and hot water to the cells as the other inmates were locked away. They had two twenty five litre drums of boiling water stationed on the top floor above the gates, this was perfectly normal. Five officers were stationed in the division on this day, and as two officers opened the gates to let the prisoners in fifty litres of boiling water was poured on their heads. At this moment, seventy division 3 violent prisoners rushed in through the gates at once. They very quickly overpower the officers, and lock them in the yards. The prisoners now have the cell keys, they make their way to the top floor opening every cell and throwing down anything removable, magazines, mattresses, furniture, anything that would burn, and pile it up at the doorway at the end of the division.
Over the previous two weeks the twelve men (including Brenden Abbott) who have organised the riot saved fuel from their lawnmowers, unnoticed they have three litres of fuel hidden in their water containers. Their plan is to create a diversion to keep the guards busy as the twelve men escape, however it does not go to plan.
The fire they create is much bigger than they anticipate and the flames quite literally hit the roof. The roof is built from one hundred and forty year old jarrah and tinder dry, and before long half of 3 division and all of 4 division is a raging inferno that can be seen from Perth. This broadcast live across national television as camera crews in helicopters film the chaos as the prison collapses, and no one seems to be putting out the fire. Efforts were being made but the main gates where made in 1850 by convicts and too narrow to get a fire engine through. The fire continues for nineteen hours until the flames are brought under control and the prisoners release their hostages in exchange for food.
Aftermarth
No one escaped, no one was killed, AUD$1.8 million of damage was done to the prison as the roof was replaced. Two years after this the prison was closed with all prisoners being transfered to the new Casuarina Prison and the heritage listed prison was turned into a tourist attraction. The twelve men that caused this were given six years on top of their current sentences, two of those in near solitary conditions.
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