The government is set to investigate a near 10-hour stand-off on the roof of a juvenile justice centre in Sydney's west, but guards have little faith the probe will help.
Six boys scaled the roof of the Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre in Werrington before 5pm on Thursday and remained there until the early hours of Friday.
Staff at the centre spoke to the boys throughout the night and de-escalated the situation, according to a Juvenile Justice NSW spokesman.
"Detainees who display behaviour that presents a risk to themselves or others are placed on a stringent management regime to manage the risk," he said in a statement.
The agency's acting executive director, Steven Southgate, is meeting with centre staff on Friday to discuss the incident and the department will review the incident, the spokesman said.
The investigation will examine what changes may be needed.
But the union representing the guards is sceptical of the review.
Public Service Association of NSW general secretary Stewart Little says the stand-off was just one of many incidents occurring at juvenile justice centres across the state.
"It highlights, really, what we're saying is occurring on a day to day basis, and that is that the juvenile system is fast spiralling out of control," Mr Little said.
The PSA says three of the boys who climbed onto the roof were high-risk offenders. It's believed one was recently involved in a similar incident at a youth justice centre in Dubbo.
Staff at six Juvenile Justice NSW centres walked off the job on Wednesday for two hours over what they say is increasing violence in the system and a lack of a unit for high-risk offenders.
The agency remains open-minded about such a unit but the PSA has not provided detail on how it would work in practice, the department spokesman said.
There'd need to be evidence it would reduce the risk of violence towards staff and other detainees, he added.
AAP
