EXCLUSIVE
Accused killer cop Beau Lamarre-Condon has been moved to Australia’s most top secret jail as his mental health continues to decline after almost six months in strict segregation.
Lamarre-Condon was recently transferred to a clandestine unit within Sydney’s Long Bay prison complex called the Special Purpose Centre (SPC) which houses NSW’s most vulnerable inmates.
The SPC currently holds about 30 of the state’s 13,000 prisoners and is so far off-the-grid most Corrective Services staff cannot access information about who is in there.
Sometimes known as The Kennel because of the number of ‘dogs’ – or informers – it accommodates, once inmates step inside the SPC’s walls their whereabouts no longer appear on the Corrective Services computer system.
Instead of being referred to by name or the Master Index Number (MIN) every prisoner receives when they are first go into custody, SPC occupants are identified internally by a number following the letter P.
‘It’s basically for inmates who can’t be put anywhere else because they’d be killed,’ a prison source told Daily Mail Australia.
Mark Standen, the onetime assistant director of the NSW Crime Commission who was jailed over a $120million drug plot, spent most of his 16 years behind bars at the SPC before his release in June.
Lamarre-Condon is charged with murdering former Studio Ten presenter Jesse Baird and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies at Paddington on February 19.
Accused killer cop Beau Lamarre-Condon (above) has been moved to Australia’s most top secret jail as his mental health continues decline after almost six months in strict segregation
He was previously in protective custody at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (MRRC) at Silverwater in Sydney’s west before being shifted to the SPC about six weeks ago.
Earlier this month, the 28-year-old was hit with an additional charge of aggravated break and enter and the murder charges were specified to be related to domestic violence.
Lamarre-Condon’s solicitor John Walford said his client was struggling to adjust to his situation as his legal team waited for the rest of the prosecution’s brief against him to be served.
‘I can say in general terms he’s feeling overwhelmed,’ Mr Walford told Daily Mail Australia. ‘His mental health issues are declining.
‘He’s frustrated because he can’t say anything at the moment. He’s feeling very frustrated. He wants to be able to say something.
‘I can say that to you at the moment, he’s not doing well. He’s declining.’
Mr Walford only learnt of the fresh charge, and that police were officially alleging the deaths of Mr Baird and Mr Davies were acts of domestic violence, through media reports.
While the case makes its way through the courts Lamarre-Condon can expect to stay in his present location.
Beaue Lamarre-Condon is charged with murdering former Studio Ten presenter Jesse Baird (right) and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies (left) at Paddington on February 19
Whereas Supermax at Goulburn contains prisoners who represent a danger to staff and other inmates, the SPC warehouses those who are at extreme risk of physical harm.
It sometimes even takes offenders smaller states cannot keep safe, such as Perth bikie Sid ‘Snot’ Reid, who turned on his Gypsy Joker bikie comrades.
Reid became perhaps Australia’s most infamous supergrass after he was arrested over the 2001 car firebombing murders of former Western Australian CIB boss Don Hancock and his friend Lou Lewis.
A retired senior prison officer who had never been inside the facility despite working in the NSW jail system for decades said few Corrective Services employees were familiar with the place.
‘All the inmates are referred to by a number, not by name,’ he said.
‘I always thought of the place as an “upmarket boneyard”. It’s basically a very expensive protection unit.’
Wayne Astill, who is serving a maximum 23 years for raping 14 female inmates when he was a prison officer at Dillwynia Correctional Centre, has called the SPC home since shortly after his arrest.
Former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld did time at the SPC after being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice for claiming a dead woman was driving his car when he received a speeding fine.
Despised rapist and prison informer Fred Many spent his final years of incarceration at the SPC, while gangster Neddy Smith had a long stint there after cooperating with ICAC in the early 1990s.
Swedish model Charlotte Lindstrom, who tried to hire a hitman to kill two witnesses giving evidence against her drug-dealing fiance, was another notorious SPC resident.
Lamarre-Condon was recently transferred to a unit within Sydney ‘s Long Bay prison complex called the Special Purpose Centre which houses NSW’s most vulnerable inmates. Stock image
Lamarre-Condon is accused of shooting Mr Baird, 26 and Mr Davies, 29 with his service pistol at Mr Baird’s home and then dumping their bodies two days later in the Southern Tablelands.
Mr Baird and Lamarre-Condon were previously engaged in what police described as an ‘off and on’ romance but Mr Baird had not wanted to pursue a relationship.
Investigators have alleged Lamarre-Condon displayed ‘predatory’ behaviour in the lead-up to the killings.
Lamarre-Condon, who used to regularly post pictures of himself with international stars on social media, turned himself in to police at Bondi four days after Mr Baird and Mr Davies were shot dead.
Following a brief court appearance that afternoon, Lamarre-Condon was transferred to the MRRC, where he was placed in protective custody due to his status as a policeman.
Jail authorities also deemed him potentially at risk because he was accused of extremely serious offences, had attracted saturation media attention and had never previously been in prison.
Detective spoke to Lamarre-Condon at the MRRC on February 24 after he received legal advice from Mr Walford.
Lamarre-Condon was previously in protective custody at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater (above) in Sydney’s west before being shifted to the SPC
Police subsequently located the bodies of Mr Baird and Mr Davies on a property at Bungonia, about 180km south-west of Sydney.
The former senior constable was sacked by the NSW Police Force on March 22 and is listed to appear in court again on August 13.
Lamarre-Condon has undergone a preliminary psychiatric assessment and his lawyers are awaiting a secondary report.
Mr Walford, a former detective who spent 20 years in the NSW Police Force, said once the Director of Public Prosecutions had served a full brief of evidence he could seek proper legal instructions from Lamarre-Condon.
‘We’re desperately trying to get everything served on us,’ Mr Walford said.
‘I’m hoping we can get this thing wrapped up and into court sooner rather than later to be honest.’
Mr Walford has previously said the murder charges ‘could be’ defendable and that Lamarre-Condon’s mental health would likely feature in any case he presented in court.
‘Mental health is something we expect to come into play,’ he said in March. ‘It certainly seems there are things we have to look at in that way.’
A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said the department did not comment on an individual inmate’s circumstances.
