A violent bikie brawl inside Queensland's largest jail has sparked calls to finally address the state's chronic and increasing prison overcrowding problem.
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Gang members, understood to be from rivals the Bandidos and the Mongols, clashed on Sunday at Woodford Correctional Centre, triggering a lockdown of the section in question.
Eleven prisoners were involved in the melee and several needed treatment for cuts and bruises but there were no serious injuries, according to Queensland Corrective Services
A QCS source, who did not wish to be named, told Fairfax Media Bandidos and Mongols faced off and the fight triggered a higher-level response, which meant all available prison officers were called to break it up
A QCS spokesman confirmed bikies were involved but stressed not all involved were bikie gang members.
"This was an isolated incident and not part of a wider problem at the centre," a QCS spokesman said in a statement.
"Woodford Correctional Centre manages many people from many different groups and appropriate strategies are in place to handle any issues that might arise."
The flare-up came as Queensland's prison overcrowding problem continued to escalate.
Every high-security prison in Queensland is significantly above capacity, with the crowding getting worse in all prisons except the Brisbane Correctional Centre, which shed almost 80 prisoners since September 18.
Across the state, another 272 offenders joined the high-security population from September, leaving the system at almost one quarter over capacity. All low security prisons were under capacity, most significantly so.
Woodford's 1286 prisoners, the most in the state, put it at 123 per cent of its intended maximum population.
Together Union director of industrial services Michael Thomas said overcrowding combined with the continuing crackdown on bikies meant it was harder to keep rival gangs separated.
He said, anecdotally, prison officers were reporting an increase in bikie-related incidents.
"You can do some work around reducing people in prison that maybe shouldn't be there but in the long run it comes down to capacity and increasing that capacity," he said.
"... There is no doubt at some point, the government is going to have to make a decision about a significant increase to capacity."
He said the state government would have to build another prison or extend existing options, or face more problems.
Queensland government open data reveals assaults in Queensland prisons have fluctuated over the past 12 months without a significant increase.
Comparing the single month of December 2016 to December 2017, assaults were up across the board, except for prisoner on staff serious assaults.
The QCS spokesman said the incident had been referred to Queensland Police Service's Corrective Service Investigation Unit.
A police spokesman was not aware of any charges being laid. https://infogram.com/untitled-1h8n6m0rvk0g4xo%20
