HM Prison Risdon is a jail in Risdon Vale

Risdon Vale, Tasmania

Risdon Vale is an outer suburb of Hobart, capital of Tasmania, Australia.Located on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River, and adjacent to Risdon Cove, which was the site of the first British settlement in Van Diemen's Land....

, Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Dubbed The Pink Palace, it was opened in 1960 when male prisoners moved from the Campbell Street Gaol

Campbell Street Gaol

H.M. Gaol Hobart or Campbell Street Gaol was an Australian prison facility located in Tasmania, Australia.The original portion of the gaol, at first known as the Hobart Town Prisoner's Barracks, was built by convicts in 1821, to accommodate 640 men...

 in central Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

. Female prisoners were moved to the complex three years later. When built, the buildings were painted pale pink, leading to the prison's nickname. It has now been renamed "Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison" and houses only low-risk inmates. The original prison block was replaced by a new modern block immediately next door, and this now bears the name H.M. Prison Risdon.

Controversy

In 1967 a fire started by prisoners almost totally destroyed the workshop complex. It was rebuilt with prison labour.

During a four-month period in 1999, five men died while imprisoned at Risdon.

On May 7, 2005, male prisoners took prison officer Kenneth Hannah and several other inmates hostage to protest against poor conditions, demanding the resignation of Tasmanian Attorney-General Judy Jackson

Judy Jackson

The Honourable Judith Louise Jackson was an Australian Labor Party politician, in Tasmania from 1986 to 2006. She was the Attorney-General and Minister for Environment in the Tasmanian Government. During her time in parliament she was a member of the Hobart based seat of Denison...

 and the public servant in charge of prisons. The siege ended on May 9, 2005.

On April 16, 2006, Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

 Sunday, prisoners took keys from a female prison officer and a 20-hour siege

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

 ensued, ending the next day. The ostensible reason for the action was the quality of food served to inmates.

In August 2006, 14 prison Officers from New Zealand and Victoria arrived in Hobart to aid the transition from the old Risdon Prison complex to the new one. The transition went smoothly. The new jail houses maximum security inmates, within its Derwent, Huon, Franklin and Tamar units. It also houses medium security inmates in Rowallan, Sorell, Rosebery, Gordon, Kara, Barrington and Burbury units. Each of these units can house 28 inmates.

Notable current and former prisoners

• Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read
• Martin Bryant
  Martin Bryant
  Martin Bryant is an Australian who has been convicted of murdering 35 people and injuring 21 others in the Port Arthur massacre, a shooting spree in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, in 1996. He is currently serving 35 life sentences plus 1,035 years without parole in the psychiatric wing of...
  
  
• John Marsden
  John Marsden (writer)
  John Marsden is an Australian writer, teacher and school principal. Marsden has had his books translated into nine languages including Swedish, Norwegian, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Italian and Spanish....
  
  , writer (held for 1 day)
• Paul Smith
  Paul Smith (Australian actor)
  Paul Smith is a former Australian actor, most known for his role as the original Simon in the television sitcom Hey Dad...!, and as Steve in the children's series The Henderson Kids....
  
  , actor
• Bob Brown
  Bob Brown
  Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
  
  , politician
• Nathan Jones
  Nathan Jones
  Nathan Jones may refer to:*Nathan Jones , Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club*Nathan Jones , Australian wrestler*Nathan Jones , American football player in the NFL...
  
  , Actor

External links

• No Safe Place Four Corners story on Risdon.