IT TOOK three asylum seekers just 45 seconds to escape from Northam detention centre last week using nothing more than padded socks on their hands.
A leaked report into the brazen daylight breakout reveals major security flaws at the WA facility and other Australian detention centres.
It was the third successful escape from the Yongah Hill Detention Centre in five months and yet another embarrassing bungle for the private operator Serco - which manages the country's detention centres, WA's prisoner transport system and our soon-to-be-opened Fiona Stanley Hospital.
Yesterday, police were still trying to locate a dangerous prisoner who escaped from Serco's custody while being treated at Joondalup Health Campus on Friday afternoon.
The Sunday Times can today reveal that one of the Northam escapees had been classified "high risk" after being caught with an "escape tool" in the months leading up to the January 12 breakout.
According to confidential information provided by a Serco insider, a detainee's security risk rating has no bearing on how they are monitored.
The documents also reveal other security weaknesses at detention facilities managed by Serco, including:
■ How asylum seekers have been able to use the internet to book plane tickets or organise getaway cars through friends via social media and even download Google maps to plan their escape routes.
■ Detainees becoming increasingly confident because of the number of escapes in recent years.
■ The lack of penalties means there is no deterrent to escape attempts.
■ Many centres are located in remote areas next to bushland, which means once an escapee has broken out they can disappear almost immediately.
■ The voltage on the 3.2m electric fence at Yongah Hill is not strong enough to shock escapees, and the design of the fence makes it easy to climb.
Detention centre staff at Northam this week threatened to walk off the job unless more employees were hired and their salaries were increased.
The Serco insider claims the security flaws at detention centres were indicative of "dysfunctional" leadership.
"The whole thing is dysfunctional from the top down," he said.
"Bottom line - there is no training given and everything is about money. Every time we have these incidents the main effort isn't improving but more so passing the buck and looking for someone to blame.
"This occurred in Thailand last year when Serco lost a high-risk and dangerous detainee in the Bangkok airport."
The insider said he was speaking out because he was tired of the "incompetence".
While two of the Vietnamese detainees from the January 12 breakout have been caught, one almost immediately and the other the next day, the third still remains at large.
The confidential material reveals concerns about the infrastructure problems at the Northam facility were first raised with the Department of Immigration after a successful escape at the facility last August.
And it warns the ability of detainees to scale the permitter and electric fences in less than a minute meant it would be impossible to stop them without structural changes.
A spokeswoman for Federal Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison said the department took any recommendations made after an escape incident seriously and implemented them "if appropriate".
She said under its contract, Serco was fined for breaches, such as escapes.
The Yongah Hill breakout occurred just one week after two prisoners, one a violent rapist, kicked their way out of a prison van at Geraldton airport under Serco's watch.
The bungle sparked a massive manhunt lasting 36 hours.
On Friday afternoon, a dangerous prisoner in Serco's custody escaped through a toilet ceiling while being treated at Joondalup Health Campus.
A discarded Toyota Rav 4 allegedly stolen by the escapee, Bradley McIntosh-Narrier, was found about 7.30am yesterday morning in Balcatta.
This latest Serco incident prompted Opposition Leader Mark McGowan to call for a parliamentary inquiry into the company's contracts with the WA Government.
WA Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis yesterday ordered his department and Serco to provide a car for the woman whose vehicle was stolen by McIntosh-Narrier.
"It was the first thing I thought about," Mr Francis said.
"I told my chief of staff and Serco to sort it out. She is the innocent victim here."
In May, seven Vietnamese detainees held at the Serco-run Scherger detention centre in Queensland managed to break out when they jumped into a car that was allegedly waiting for them.
