He was there when Mark 'Chopper' Read made his stand: Why did he do nothing?

The Advertiser

18-07-2025

A lot of people think life inside a prison's walls should be made as difficult as possible for the inmates, but it's not a view shared by former Victorian prison boss John Van Groningen.
"People on the outside feel that we should make things tougher, and the question is, who's that for? Is that for the prisoner or for... the people on the outside?" He said.
"There's no evidence that a harsh system deters people. There's none at all, Zero."
Read more from The Senior
The 85-year-old former Commissioner of Corrections in Victoria has more than 50 years' worth of experience working in the criminal justice system.
He has worked as a prison officer and juvenile corrections officer and has held supervisory, management, and executive positions in the United States and Australia. He also holds a Master's Degree in Sociology and Criminology, has published a number of widely read papers and has lectured at Monash and RMIT universities as an Adjunct Professor.
John said that while many people on the outside think that making life as uncomfortable as possible for prisoners is a harsh but necessary lesson, it does nothing for the prisoners and only makes life harder for prison staff.
Not that he's saying prisoners should be mollycoddled. But some creature comforts, within reason, can make life inside a prison's walls easier for all concerned.
"To be over the top in your strictness, it doesn't produce any results, and in the meantime, it produces a reaction that you don't have to live with.
"I mean, the number of riots that some prisons have is incredible... we might have the odd uprising (in Victoria), but we don't have any riots to speak of."
John was appointed Director General of Correctional Services in Victoria in 1992 and served as Commissioner from July 1995 to the end of 1999. He had previously served as Superintendent of Pentridge Prison.
In that time, he successfully pushed for a number of reforms, including the decommissioning of older prisons in favour of more modern facilities, and giving prisoners access to better food and more education and work opportunities.
John interacted with some colourful characters in his time working in the prison system and was never afraid to take a less conventional approach.
In the 1990s, while John was serving as Director General, Mark "Chopper" Read scaled the A-Division roof at Pentridge Prison, refusing to come down unless he could speak to a journalist.
John was informed of the situation and asked if prison officers should scale the roof to bring him down. Being aware that Read had nowhere to go, and that there was a helicopter exclusion zone over the prison, ensuring the media would not catch wind of the situation, John decided the best course of action was to leave him there until he decided to come down by himself.
"I said, 'How long can he stay?' ' How long can you be up on the roof?' He's not causing any trouble.
"Of course, some prison officer's idea was, 'He's disobeying an order. I said, 'Well, we can charge him with disobeying an order when he comes down."
Eventually, Read did come back down. It was the second instance of him scaling a roof at the prison. He had previously climbed a roof with two other prisoners in 1978.
Prior to moving to Australia, John worked in the prison system in the USA.
He said there are some major differences between the two countries' prison systems, with the USA taking a much more punitive approach to justice.
"The biggest difference is, I think we have much better facilities. We're probably more generous with the creature comforts that we let prisoners have and be involved with."
One anecdote from his time as a corrections officer at the California Men's Colony highlights just how aggressive inmates can become when denied creature comforts.
At one point, the prison started serving the inmates strawberries and cream in order to get rid of an abundance of overripe strawberries.
A prisoner wrote a humorous note to the local newspaper saying inmates were now being served strawberries and cream and suggesting this was not good for rehabilitation because they were being treated too well.
This angered many of his fellow prisoners, who felt he was putting their privileges in jeopardy in a place where privileges were extremely rare.
"We had to put him in protection for a while... obviously, he became very unpopular."
John tells all about his 50-plus-year career in the prison system in his autobiography, Prisons: The Good, The Bad, The Mad and the Sad. The book is available now through Hybrid Publishers.
Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE.
A lot of people think life inside a prison's walls should be made as difficult as possible for the inmates, but it's not a view shared by former Victorian prison boss John Van Groningen.
"People on the outside feel that we should make things tougher, and the question is, who's that for? Is that for the prisoner or for... the people on the outside?" He said.
"There's no evidence that a harsh system deters people. There's none at all, Zero."
Read more from The Senior
The 85-year-old former Commissioner of Corrections in Victoria has more than 50 years' worth of experience working in the criminal justice system.
He has worked as a prison officer and juvenile corrections officer and has held supervisory, management, and executive positions in the United States and Australia. He also holds a Master's Degree in Sociology and Criminology, has published a number of widely read papers and has lectured at Monash and RMIT universities as an Adjunct Professor.
John said that while many people on the outside think that making life as uncomfortable as possible for prisoners is a harsh but necessary lesson, it does nothing for the prisoners and only makes life harder for prison staff.
Not that he's saying prisoners should be mollycoddled. But some creature comforts, within reason, can make life inside a prison's walls easier for all concerned.
"To be over the top in your strictness, it doesn't produce any results, and in the meantime, it produces a reaction that you don't have to live with.
"I mean, the number of riots that some prisons have is incredible... we might have the odd uprising (in Victoria), but we don't have any riots to speak of."
John was appointed Director General of Correctional Services in Victoria in 1992 and served as Commissioner from July 1995 to the end of 1999. He had previously served as Superintendent of Pentridge Prison.
In that time, he successfully pushed for a number of reforms, including the decommissioning of older prisons in favour of more modern facilities, and giving prisoners access to better food and more education and work opportunities.
John interacted with some colourful characters in his time working in the prison system and was never afraid to take a less conventional approach.
In the 1990s, while John was serving as Director General, Mark "Chopper" Read scaled the A-Division roof at Pentridge Prison, refusing to come down unless he could speak to a journalist.
John was informed of the situation and asked if prison officers should scale the roof to bring him down. Being aware that Read had nowhere to go, and that there was a helicopter exclusion zone over the prison, ensuring the media would not catch wind of the situation, John decided the best course of action was to leave him there until he decided to come down by himself.
"I said, 'How long can he stay?' ' How long can you be up on the roof?' He's not causing any trouble.
"Of course, some prison officer's idea was, 'He's disobeying an order. I said, 'Well, we can charge him with disobeying an order when he comes down."
Eventually, Read did come back down. It was the second instance of him scaling a roof at the prison. He had previously climbed a roof with two other prisoners in 1978.
Prior to moving to Australia, John worked in the prison system in the USA.
He said there are some major differences between the two countries' prison systems, with the USA taking a much more punitive approach to justice.
"The biggest difference is, I think we have much better facilities. We're probably more generous with the creature comforts that we let prisoners have and be involved with."
One anecdote from his time as a corrections officer at the California Men's Colony highlights just how aggressive inmates can become when denied creature comforts.
At one point, the prison started serving the inmates strawberries and cream in order to get rid of an abundance of overripe strawberries.
A prisoner wrote a humorous note to the local newspaper saying inmates were now being served strawberries and cream and suggesting this was not good for rehabilitation because they were being treated too well.
This angered many of his fellow prisoners, who felt he was putting their privileges in jeopardy in a place where privileges were extremely rare.
"We had to put him in protection for a while... obviously, he became very unpopular."
John tells all about his 50-plus-year career in the prison system in his autobiography, Prisons: The Good, The Bad, The Mad and the Sad. The book is available now through Hybrid Publishers.
Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE.
A lot of people think life inside a prison's walls should be made as difficult as possible for the inmates, but it's not a view shared by former Victorian prison boss John Van Groningen.
"People on the outside feel that we should make things tougher, and the question is, who's that for? Is that for the prisoner or for... the people on the outside?" He said.
"There's no evidence that a harsh system deters people. There's none at all, Zero."
Read more from The Senior
The 85-year-old former Commissioner of Corrections in Victoria has more than 50 years' worth of experience working in the criminal justice system.
He has worked as a prison officer and juvenile corrections officer and has held supervisory, management, and executive positions in the United States and Australia. He also holds a Master's Degree in Sociology and Criminology, has published a number of widely read papers and has lectured at Monash and RMIT universities as an Adjunct Professor.
John said that while many people on the outside think that making life as uncomfortable as possible for prisoners is a harsh but necessary lesson, it does nothing for the prisoners and only makes life harder for prison staff.
Not that he's saying prisoners should be mollycoddled. But some creature comforts, within reason, can make life inside a prison's walls easier for all concerned.
"To be over the top in your strictness, it doesn't produce any results, and in the meantime, it produces a reaction that you don't have to live with.
"I mean, the number of riots that some prisons have is incredible... we might have the odd uprising (in Victoria), but we don't have any riots to speak of."
John was appointed Director General of Correctional Services in Victoria in 1992 and served as Commissioner from July 1995 to the end of 1999. He had previously served as Superintendent of Pentridge Prison.
In that time, he successfully pushed for a number of reforms, including the decommissioning of older prisons in favour of more modern facilities, and giving prisoners access to better food and more education and work opportunities.
John interacted with some colourful characters in his time working in the prison system and was never afraid to take a less conventional approach.
In the 1990s, while John was serving as Director General, Mark "Chopper" Read scaled the A-Division roof at Pentridge Prison, refusing to come down unless he could speak to a journalist.
John was informed of the situation and asked if prison officers should scale the roof to bring him down. Being aware that Read had nowhere to go, and that there was a helicopter exclusion zone over the prison, ensuring the media would not catch wind of the situation, John decided the best course of action was to leave him there until he decided to come down by himself.
"I said, 'How long can he stay?' ' How long can you be up on the roof?' He's not causing any trouble.
"Of course, some prison officer's idea was, 'He's disobeying an order. I said, 'Well, we can charge him with disobeying an order when he comes down."
Eventually, Read did come back down. It was the second instance of him scaling a roof at the prison. He had previously climbed a roof with two other prisoners in 1978.
Prior to moving to Australia, John worked in the prison system in the USA.
He said there are some major differences between the two countries' prison systems, with the USA taking a much more punitive approach to justice.
"The biggest difference is, I think we have much better facilities. We're probably more generous with the creature comforts that we let prisoners have and be involved with."
One anecdote from his time as a corrections officer at the California Men's Colony highlights just how aggressive inmates can become when denied creature comforts.
At one point, the prison started serving the inmates strawberries and cream in order to get rid of an abundance of overripe strawberries.
A prisoner wrote a humorous note to the local newspaper saying inmates were now being served strawberries and cream and suggesting this was not good for rehabilitation because they were being treated too well.
This angered many of his fellow prisoners, who felt he was putting their privileges in jeopardy in a place where privileges were extremely rare.
"We had to put him in protection for a while... obviously, he became very unpopular."
John tells all about his 50-plus-year career in the prison system in his autobiography, Prisons: The Good, The Bad, The Mad and the Sad. The book is available now through Hybrid Publishers.
Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE.
A lot of people think life inside a prison's walls should be made as difficult as possible for the inmates, but it's not a view shared by former Victorian prison boss John Van Groningen.
"People on the outside feel that we should make things tougher, and the question is, who's that for? Is that for the prisoner or for... the people on the outside?" He said.
"There's no evidence that a harsh system deters people. There's none at all, Zero."
Read more from The Senior
The 85-year-old former Commissioner of Corrections in Victoria has more than 50 years' worth of experience working in the criminal justice system.
He has worked as a prison officer and juvenile corrections officer and has held supervisory, management, and executive positions in the United States and Australia. He also holds a Master's Degree in Sociology and Criminology, has published a number of widely read papers and has lectured at Monash and RMIT universities as an Adjunct Professor.
John said that while many people on the outside think that making life as uncomfortable as possible for prisoners is a harsh but necessary lesson, it does nothing for the prisoners and only makes life harder for prison staff.
Not that he's saying prisoners should be mollycoddled. But some creature comforts, within reason, can make life inside a prison's walls easier for all concerned.
"To be over the top in your strictness, it doesn't produce any results, and in the meantime, it produces a reaction that you don't have to live with.
"I mean, the number of riots that some prisons have is incredible... we might have the odd uprising (in Victoria), but we don't have any riots to speak of."
John was appointed Director General of Correctional Services in Victoria in 1992 and served as Commissioner from July 1995 to the end of 1999. He had previously served as Superintendent of Pentridge Prison.
In that time, he successfully pushed for a number of reforms, including the decommissioning of older prisons in favour of more modern facilities, and giving prisoners access to better food and more education and work opportunities.
John interacted with some colourful characters in his time working in the prison system and was never afraid to take a less conventional approach.
In the 1990s, while John was serving as Director General, Mark "Chopper" Read scaled the A-Division roof at Pentridge Prison, refusing to come down unless he could speak to a journalist.
John was informed of the situation and asked if prison officers should scale the roof to bring him down. Being aware that Read had nowhere to go, and that there was a helicopter exclusion zone over the prison, ensuring the media would not catch wind of the situation, John decided the best course of action was to leave him there until he decided to come down by himself.
"I said, 'How long can he stay?' ' How long can you be up on the roof?' He's not causing any trouble.
"Of course, some prison officer's idea was, 'He's disobeying an order. I said, 'Well, we can charge him with disobeying an order when he comes down."
Eventually, Read did come back down. It was the second instance of him scaling a roof at the prison. He had previously climbed a roof with two other prisoners in 1978.
Prior to moving to Australia, John worked in the prison system in the USA.
He said there are some major differences between the two countries' prison systems, with the USA taking a much more punitive approach to justice.
"The biggest difference is, I think we have much better facilities. We're probably more generous with the creature comforts that we let prisoners have and be involved with."
One anecdote from his time as a corrections officer at the California Men's Colony highlights just how aggressive inmates can become when denied creature comforts.
At one point, the prison started serving the inmates strawberries and cream in order to get rid of an abundance of overripe strawberries.
A prisoner wrote a humorous note to the local newspaper saying inmates were now being served strawberries and cream and suggesting this was not good for rehabilitation because they were being treated too well.
This angered many of his fellow prisoners, who felt he was putting their privileges in jeopardy in a place where privileges were extremely rare.
"We had to put him in protection for a while... obviously, he became very unpopular."
John tells all about his 50-plus-year career in the prison system in his autobiography, Prisons: The Good, The Bad, The Mad and the Sad. The book is available now through Hybrid Publishers.
Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE.