Aggressive rebellion at Canberra's jail

Six fire crews went to the Alexander Maconochie Centre about 7.30pm on Wednesday and were stood down an hour-and-a-half later.

"The incident started with a number of detainees behaving aggressively and not complying with officer directions," according to a statement from the Justice and Community Safety Directorate of the ACT which runs the prison.

"Corrections officers acted quickly and professionally to resolve the incident."

The department said that nobody was injured. It is not known, though, how the confrontation was brought to an end.

"Officers successfully negotiated with the detainees and the matter was resolved when detainees became complaint with directions," the statement from the department said.

The ACT's only jail has had a troubled recent past.

On the evening of November 10 last year, there was an outbreak of violence there in which 27 prisoners armed themselves with broom handles and other implements.

Four fires were also lit and firefighters needed officers with riot shield protection as they fought the blazes.

In March this year, ACT Inspector of Correctional Services Neil McAllister delivered a report on the review of the incident.

It said the damage bill from the riot will be about $5.7 million - more than double the $2.5 million originally reported.

The report made 13 recommendations for improvement and found there was a lack of support for staff, training and equipment.

It emerged in the enquiry that there was confusion among managers. It is not known if that situation has been improved since.

The report said that 55 per cent of surveyed staff at the jail said it was unclear who was in charge.

The former head of Corrections at Canberra's jail had to apologise to his staff for failing to reveal to the public the seriousness of the riot at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in November last year.

Former ACT Corrections commissioner Jon Peach has since been moved on from the most senior role at the prison, with 18 months of his contract left to run.

In interviews conducted for his critical incident report into the riot, the independent Inspector of Correctional Services, Neil McAllister, said the media's reporting of the riot - based on statements and information provided directly by both Mr Peach and the Justice and Community Safety directorate media team - had been "deeply disappointing" to prison staff members.

According to a statement issued by the directorate, Mr Peach delivered a "clear apology in the morning brief to all staff who were involved", saying he thought they did a "very remarkable and professional job" and it was never his intent to "minimise the incident".

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