'They see prisoners as scum of the earth and the world would be better off without them, so they have no issue when someone suicides, let alone someone like Brent,' she said. The former staffer claimed most prison guards couldn't care less about the safety of inmantes.
He absolutely should have been in one of those. 'There are padded cells, no hanging points, no electrical points - none of that. 'He should have been in a unit that's monitored 24/7 with no hanging points, without anything that can help him facilitate a suicide and there are those units, they exist and they have inmates in those units all the time in nothing but a gown so they can't use their clothing to hang themselves,' she said. The prison whistleblower said Reker ought never have been moved to the unit given his fragile state of mind. The court heard guards then forced their way into Reker's cell where they saw him laying on the floor with a ligature around his neck.īrent Reker made multiple attempts to end his life in prison, the coroner heard When guards rushed around to a rear window to see what was happening inside, they saw a chair wedged in Reker's shower. The court heard Reker had covered his cell in toilet paper and blocked his cell door with a mattress. He was placed under hourly observations, which quickly identified trouble was afoot. Upon his move to the Forbes unit, Reker told staff he had no plans to self harm. The proposed move saw Reker swallow shards of metal when guards came to collect him. The court heard Reker had been desperate to obtain a prison job and threatened violence if he didn't get his way.įed up, prison bosses agreed to move Reker to a unit away from other inmates. Reker later told a prison doctor he and other inmates all planned to 'slash-up' if their demands weren't met. 'Do we have to slash up to get what we want?' he told a guard. In the days before his suicide, Reker complained of being bored and warned prison staff he would self harm over a cancelled dental appointment. 'Ravenhall is great in theory, but a lot of the staff are very young, very inexperienced and it's not very well run in comparison to what it could be,' the whistleblower said. The former staffer claimed Reker should never have been moved from MAP to the medium security Ravenhall Correctional Centre.īrent Reker (pictured without his infamous face paint) had been a member of Perth's Rock Machine bikie club before moving to Melbourne and heading The FinksĪt the time, Reker's life had been at risk over his moves to abandon the outlaw club. They were very well aware that he did those things to the point that he would make it very difficult for officers to enter his cell if they had to get in there,' she said. 'It wasn't a new strategy that he'd just come up with. It was a tactic he used to prevent guards getting to him on the day he ultimately took his own life. The former staffer claimed Reker would use his formidable size to barricade his cell. 'Staff identified that Mr Reker had exposed wire from an electric jug in his cell and threatened to electrocute himself by placing the jug in the cell toilet and touching the water,' Senior Constable Nation said.Īt the time of his death, Reker had been in talks with the Finks to leave the club, find legitimate work and had even begun getting his tattoos removed.
He attempted suicide again the following day, this time using a smock. Eight days later he threatened to kill himself again. Last month, the Coroner's Court heard Reker's first attempt saw him try to hang himself using a torn shirt before prison guards cut him down. The bikie had initially been bailed over an alleged bashing, described as a revenge attack over the release of naked photos of his friend Tara Egglestone online. Reker had become suicidal after the Director of the Office of Public Prosecutions won an appeal in the Supreme Court that saw his bail revoked in February 2019. He tried to kill himself multiple times while he was at the Melbourne Assessment Prison, and that's a maximum security prison that is run specifically for those with mental health issues,' she said. The guard, who wished to remain anonymous, had worked closely with Reker before he hanged himself after being transferred to a unit for troublesome inmates. While his suicide is the subject of a Victorian coronial inquest, a former guard at the jail has told Daily Mail Australia prison staff had 'blood on their hands' over his death. The 35-year old national president was found hanging at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre in December 2019 after barricading himself in his cell. Brent Reker was found dead in the Ravenhall Correctional Centre in 2019Ī prison whistleblower has shed light on the final desperate days of a notorious Finks bikie boss, Brent 'BJ' Reker, before he was found dead in jail.
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