aboutjika

Here on this page you will read 2 different versions about
"Jika-Jika". 1 from a officer the other from a Ex-Inmate!!!
Names have been with held due to privacy reasons.
I felt it was important -Fair to have 2 both sides of the story.
OFFICER
Jika Jika was built for one man and one man only that being Ted Eastwood, the story behind this
stems from when Ted held children hostage at a local school and threatened to kill them all. The
Minister at the time ended the siege by promising Eastwood certain things which he later would
go back on , and it was at this point that Eastwood stated that if he ever got out he would kill the
Minister. The Minister **** himself and there was a lot of debate in Parliament and to appease
the Minister they decided to build Jika Jika that being the most secure environment that could
be had at that time. Hence it was known as the High Security Unit.

Corrections saw it as a means to reduce conflict in the Division by separating those who were
constantly getting involved in stabbings , bashings etc: and to make it appear that this was the
reason Jika Jika was built, but we knew better.

The Governor of Jika Jika, was given an open cheque book and he was allowed to pick his own
staff from the rest of the prison and some from the academy which he wanted to train himself,
Jika Officers quickly got the name "Super Screws" an elite bunch of staff , hand picked, well
trained and well armed. This was the departments first mistake, no other officer was allowed to
work in Jika Jika and the restriction put in place even prevented other staff from even visiting
the place, now we had a secret society , no one would ever be able to find out what happened in
that place and the officers were sworn to secrecy a perfect place for corruption and brutality to
grow and grow it did.

A number of prisoners who were considered troublesome or a threat to security were transferred
names such as
*********,*********,**********,*********,*********,***********,*********,**********
and the list goes on.

In the beginning Jika prisoners were given everything to get them to settle and the publicity was
good given that the prisoners were not complaining and were very happy at that time, but as
time progressed Jika Jika lost its novelty value and things began to change the prisoners were
given nothing no Industries , no Hobbies , nothing in their cells and they were segregated from
each other , their cells searched daily, their requests ignored depending on who you were , the
only good part for them was the visit facilities .

Things as I said started to change and the prisoners got bored and had nothing to do , fights
broke out and were common and violent , it was at times not uncommon for the emergency alarm
to go off 2 or 3 times a night and both the prisoners and the officers were always on edge , and
the incidents were at times quite bloody.

The second mistake about Jika Jika was the electronic's which always broke down and it
separated the officers from the prisoners no real direct contact , with all contact between bars
and thick glass, this started to dehumanize the prisoners and frustration and aggression went
hand in hand , things could be said by both sides to each other within the safety of the bars and
glass which separated them. Because of this and the fact the officers that worked there and the
prisoners were stuck so to speak with no movement to other divisions staff and prisoner started
to get in each others faces daily and staff and prisoners took insults etc from one of being a
game to one of being Personal and now we had a very dangerous situation where anything could
happen.

(Name With Held) wanted out of there after a some years in there and the rumblings began to
arise , the Governor kept telling (Name With Held) that if he behaved he would eventually be
returned to normal life in the divisions , but this was never going to happen and (Name With
Held) came to the realization that he would never be let out of Jika. (Name With Held) got sick
of the lies and started to cause trouble just about every day and incited those around him to
follow, and this they did , for they knew that if they did not , they would be killed by (Name With
Held) himself or others made to do it for him.

As time went on , (Name withheld) activities were causing the Governor and the Department a
lot of grief so the management tactic's changed , now it became obvious that certain prisoners
who played up were deliberately put in with other prisoners who kept them quiet if you know
what I mean, and it appeared that these prisoners were rewarded for their contribution. With this
knowledge ******* knew it was a case of "Do unto others as they would do unto you", " But do
it first" and more bloodshed followed. (Name With Held) was determined to get his own way , he
wanted out at any expense and he ruled the roost with an iron hand, he was doing Natural Life
and had nothing to lose.

The mind games continued, and so did the violence until the escape from Jika Jika now (Name
With Held) new he had caused them serious damage and he openly made the statement that he
would have Jika Jika closed, and I guess in the end he did.

Following the escape , the press was bad and the Department could no longer justify the expense
of running the place , because it could not longer say it was a High Security Unit, there had been
an escape , and so the Electronic's were shut down and key a padlocks fitted, and the tone and
management of the place reduced.

But still , (Name With Held) could not get out of there and so the games and the violence
continued and he would use threats of violence and violence to get other prisoners to follow and
his partner (Name With Held) would do anything for ******* even Kill.

(Name With Held)  knew that the doors could be jammed to prevent officer entry because he
had done so before and the staff knew it too , but they believed that should he do that they could
cut there way in if need be . (Name  With Held) obviously thought he could do as much damage
as he could before the officer got in and in the mean time could survive by breathing through the
toilet system which in division would have worked given the pipe lay out , but Jika Jika was
different and as he discovered it did not work the same , nor did he know that it would take staff
so long to get in .

******* should never have been put in that unit with (Name With held) and the others , he would
have been facing death from the minute he walked into that unit, ******* would have not been
able to say no to what (Name With Held) he wanted or he would have been killed anyway and so
he had to go along with it no matter what . Jika Jika was death cell only on a bigger scale and
******* death can not be directed at the officers , but the people above who pulled the strings.
Notice how the blame fell on the officers , but what about the Minister , what about the
department and What about (Name With Held) himself, he set the scene and played the game
unfortunately ******* was a pawn in that game with no escape and this was a game of death.

The game was never about the conditions , it was about (Name With Held) himself and nothing
else , I got along with (Name With Held) and the others well, but if it meant he could get out of
that place he would have killed me in a second and not thought another thing about it , it would
have been simply a means to an end, that's all.
EX-INMATE
Pentridge Prison was situated in Melbourne, Australia, and was built in the early days dating
back to the convict era. In a feeble attempt to modernise the system, those in power in their
wisdom (or distinct lack of it) decided to build a new 'hi-tech' unit. They did so, and they called
it Jika Jika. They were so proud of it and showed it off to everybody who they believed to
remotely interested.....but they never lived in it themselves.

Prisoners were segregated, lost the ability to make decisions for themselves, and were
severely isolated from what we in the everyday world deem to be 'normal.'

The fire itself was horrendous, and many facets of it are still often spoken about today. After
five lives were needlessly lost those in power decided to close the unit. They later reopened it
and altered it's name to 'K' Division. ('K's in Ku Klux Klan) as if a change of name would be a
quick remedy to everything.

Their plan backfired and 'K' Division was always known as the unit where five lives were
unneccessarily stolen.
Jika Jika, aka 'K' Division, as it turned out was nothing less than a catastrophe and a blight on
modern day penal institutions.
Five 'inmates lost their lives as a direct result of that same catastrophe.'

If you read this and disgree with it DONT come screaming at me, they are the words of others not mine.
If you have something you would like to add feel free to contact me.

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