A notorious former gang leader has pleaded guilty to two charges laid over an incident that is said to involve him threatening to cut the throat of a fellow prisoner he held hostage in a cell at Canberra's jail.
The March 2021 incident, which ended after about 90 minutes when Damien Glenn Featherstone peacefully surrendered, was the first ever hostage situation at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Featherstone, 34, was set to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court later this month, having initially pleaded not guilty to charges laid over the event.
However, chief Crown prosecutor Anthony Williamson presented a new indictment to the court on Wednesday morning.
When it was read to Featherstone, whose hands were cuffed in the dock, he pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful confinement and making a demand with a threat to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm.
Defence barrister John Purnell SC said the precise details of the offences were yet to be agreed with the Crown, and there would need to be a short disputed facts hearing before Featherstone's sentencing.
However, a critical incident review undertaken by the independent inspector of correctional services sheds some light on what occurred and how the ACT government has responded.
An October 2021 report by inspector Neil McAllister says Featherstone, who is referred to as Detainee Z, took a fellow inmate - Detainee V - hostage in a cell at the jail's southern accommodation unit.
"Detainee Z had armed himself with a jail-made weapon and threatened to cut Detainee V's throat if staff tried to enter the cell," the report says.
"He demanded to speak to his psychologist and a member of the AMC Indigenous services unit, neither of whom were on duty that day."
A senior correctional officer successfully negotiated with Featherstone, a former Brothers 4 Life chapter leader affiliated with well-known prison gangs in both the ACT and NSW, to secure the victim's release.
"Detainee V was physically unharmed but was visibly shaken after the incident," the report says.
"It is not clear as to why Detainee V was chosen as the hostage other than he owed Detainee Z tobacco.
"Detainee Z told us that he had not planned the incident, rather it was a spontaneous act arising from his frustration with his accommodation in his current unit."
The report goes on to detail how Featherstone had been moved from the prison's "management unit" to the area in question less than two months before the incident.
Some new arrivals to the jail were being placed in this area, and he told the inspector's review team he had been "paranoid" about mixing with them because he thought one might want to assault or kill him.
The review team ultimately found the incident had been appropriately managed and was "not reasonably foreseeable by ACT Corrective Services", but it identified some matters in need of attention.
Mr McAllister accordingly made seven recommendations to the ACT government, including that Corrective Services "enhance the skills of senior corrections officers to deal with hostage situations".
Corrections Minister Mick Gentleman agreed, in May, to implement that recommendation by November 30, saying ACT Corrective Services was "currently exploring options for training".
Featherstone, who is currently serving a jail term that does not expire until 2025, is set to be sentenced over the hostage situation by Justice Michael Elkaim on November 8.
The 34-year-old is also awaiting sentencing in the ACT Magistrates Court over his role in a "vicious" five-on-one prison bashing, during which he used a "shiv" to slash the face of a fellow inmate he wrongly believed to be a paedophile.
That court has previously heard Featherstone is institutionalised, having spent all but about a year of his adult life behind bars.
