Sentenced prisoner Jarrod Kim May handed extra time behind bars after throwing boiling water at officers

A 23-year-old prisoner’s “incredibly dangerous” outburst over cancelled family visits, which included throwing boiling water at prison officers, has resulted in extra time behind bars. Jarrod Kim May appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court via videolink from Casuarina Prison on Monday where he pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting a public officer as well as a further charge of criminal damage or destruction of property. The court was told May was serving his time at Bunbury Regional Prison at the time of offending, having received a jail term in 2018. During the afternoon of February 4, May and a co-accused prisoner were in an exercise area when May brought in a 10 litre bucket that was full of boiling water. May and the alleged co-offender then used a toaster and a broom handle to repeatedly hit a reinforced glass window to gain access to a security console room. While the toaster was thrown into the room through the gap, a supporting pole for a volleyball net in the area was dislodged and used to barricade an access gate to the console room as prison officers raced to the area. As three officers tried to gain access to the room, May threw the bucket of boiling water at the gate, causing the water to splash onto the retreating guards, who felt a “burning sensation”. May then threw the bucket once again at one officer who managed to gain access, hitting him on the hand, and struck his arm with the broom handle, causing pain. May was eventually subdued and taken back to his cell, where he was placed into lockdown. The court was told May and the co-accused prisoner caused $9492 of damage to prison property and the three officers suffered no visible injury as a result of the boiling water that was thrown at them. May’s defence counsel Vivian Blurton told the court May was 18 years old at the time of his District Court sentencing and would have been due for release in June next year. Mr Blurton submitted until the offending, May had been a “model prisoner”, completing several courses while in custody and holding jobs reserved for trusted prisoners, such as a kitchen-hand. However, in the weeks prior to the incident, May’s regular family visits had ceased and May was unable to find out why, becoming depressed that he could not see his grandmother. The court was told May and the alleged co-offender were in the area to conduct cleaning jobs. It was also found that May had a number of incident reports made against him for suspected illicit drug use and property damage that resulted in disciplinary action within the prison. In sentencing, Magistrate Linda Keane described May’s offending as a “extraordinarily nasty, dangerous and vicious” behaviour within a prison environment and it was out of good fortune that none of the officers suffered serious burns. “You had a plan and you put that plan into action and with considerable skill,” she said. “You were also trusted by the prison staff and you’ve breached that trust in an egregious, incredibly dangerous and serious way. “It’s like something out of a terrible prison movie.” Ms Keane also noted that the offending behaviour had only made things worse for May, having been moved away from his family to Casuarina Prison, a maximum security facility. May’s extended jail term was ordered to begin on Monday, pushing his release date out to December 2023.