Craig Minogue

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Craig W. J. Minogue is an Australian prisoner, convicted for the 1986 bombing of the Russell Street Police Headquarters in Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on March 27, 1986. In 1988, Minogue was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 30 years. Minogue is currently serving his sentence at HM Prison Barwon, near Geelong, about one hours drive from Melbourne.

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[edit] Russell Street Bombing

Main article: Russell Street Bombing

The Russell Street Bombing, for which Minogue was initially imprisoned, occurred at 1 pm on March 27, 1986. The blast killed 21 year old Constable Angela Taylor and left 22 people injured and caused massive amounts of damage to the Russell Street Police Headquarters and surrounding buildings, with damage estimated at over a million dollars.

[edit] Prison life

In 1992 Minogue established the first ever law library in Pentridge's J Division. This was a 'first' for an Australian prison.

Minogue has initiated many legal challenges against the Victorian government, mostly concerning his treatment while imprisoned. In 2002 Minogue applied unsuccessfully to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) seeking copies of prison management and operation manuals [1]. His request was refused, but he was granted access to limited information and restricted to viewing such information while within the prison library.

Minogue's willingness to institute legal proceedings against prison authorities has not endeared him to them. In 2003 Minogue took action in the Victorian Supreme Court against Group4, the UK based company which operates Port Phillip Prison. The action was in relation to the prison's confiscation of his computer and much of his legal and academic materials. Group4 settled the action by returning Minogues belongings. Shortly after this Minogue was moved to the state run maximum security Barwon prison where, as of December 2006, he remains.

In 2005 Minogue, who entered the prison system illiterate, completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honours from Deakin University. In the same year he was accepted as a PhD. student at La Trobe University, the first prisoner in Australia and one of the few in the world to do so.

Minogue requests a single bed cell while imprisoned, as is normal for Victorian prisoners, and shares his cell with a large amount of legal texts, hardcover law resource books, academic materials, PC and printer. He has helped many prisoners with legal matters and has authored a series of self help pamphlets explaining in simple terms the workings of the Victorian criminal justice system. These pamphlets are also used in community education programs run by Victorian community legal centers and the "Court Readiness Program" run by Monash University.

The Jika Jika exercise yard. The enclosed roof was to avoid attempts to escape by helicopter.
Enlarge
The Jika Jika exercise yard. The enclosed roof was to avoid attempts to escape by helicopter.

On October 29, 1987, Minogue, along with other prisoners detained in the high security Jika Jika unit of Pentridge Prison, were dissatisfied with inhumane conditions in the unit. They began to seal off doors to their cells using a tennis net and bedding. Windows were covered with paper so the prison officers were unable to identify prisoners causing damage.

The prisoners emptied water from the S bend of the toilets in their cells. They had planned to use a wet blanket to cover their heads while they attempted to breath the small amount of air in the sewage plumbing system when a fire was lit. Smoke rapidly filled the unit. Jika Jika was completely free of any fresh air whatsoever as it was a climate controlled division. In spite of the men's attempts to avoid the thick, toxic black smoke by breathing through the plumbing, prisoners Robert Wright, Jimmy Loughnan, Arthur Gallagher, David McGauley and Ricky Morris died in the fire. Minogue and three other prisoners survived. All four spent days on ventilators recovering in the prison hospital.

Attorney General and Minister for Corrections Jim Kennan immediately ordered the closure of the Jika Jika maximum security section of Pentridge Prison thereafter saying:

"The level of deaths in Jika Jika has become unacceptable".

None of the surviving prisoners were charged with any offences. In the ensuing coronial inquest into the deaths in the fire Minogue gave evidence over three days. At the completion of the inquest the State Coroner found Corrections Victoria was, in his words, "moribund and corrupt". A forthcoming book by Monash University academic and historian Dr. Bree Carlton examines the prisoner resistance which lead to the Jika Jika fire.

[edit] Second murder conviction

Minogue received a second murder conviction in 1988 for the murder of fellow prison inmate Alex Tsakmakis. This sentence is to run almost totally concurrent with the bombing sentence. Minogue will serve an additional three months for Tsakmakis's death. The sentencing judge, Justice George Hampel, stated at the time words to the effect that Tsakmakis's life was not worth any more than that. This murder occurred in the notorious H division of Pentridge, which later figured in Chopper Read's books and biographical film.

Tsakmakis had previously murdered a fellow prisoner by dousing him in an adhesive and then setting him on fire. He stood in the doorway of the room in which his victim, Barry Quinn, was on fire and refused to allow guards to enter. As they approached he threatened them with a guitar held in his hands, when they withdrew he began to play the guitar and sing "Come on baby light my fire" as Quinn burnt to death.

Tsakmakis was a prime suspect in the execution style murder of two men and a young woman during a jewellery store robbery in the Melbourne CBD. He was found beaten to death with gym weights that had been placed in a pillow case as an improvised weight training device by other prisoners. Minogue has since stated it was simply a matter of self defence in that if he hadn't killed Tsakmakis then Tsakmakis would have killed him.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

    1. ↑  Minogue v Department of Justice (2004) VCAT 1194 (25 June 2004)

    [edit] External links

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