Think of prison weapons and you might picture the improvised blades inmates call shivs or shanks and carefully conceal in their cells.
But one weapon which has been used regularly in vicious attacks in Australian prisons can also be found in kitchens around the world: the humble sandwich press.
Australian inmates, particularly in New South Wales, are using toasted sandwich makers to assault each other, sometimes with devastating consequences.
The practice even has its own name: ‘Brevilling’, from the brand of the popular Breville electric sandwich press.
Former kickboxing world champion Adam Watt was bashed so severely with a sandwich press he suffered a brain injury and is suing the NSW government.
Former kickboxing champion Adam Watt is suing the NSW government after he was attacked with a sandwich press in the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater
Sandwich presses have been available to NSW prisoners for at least 20 years and have been used in violent attacks known as ‘Brevilling’; pictured is a Breville sandwich maker
Murderer Django O’Hara lays into former kickboxing champion Adam Watt with a sandwich press inside a pilow slip at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in 2009
Murderer Django O’Hara assaults Adam Watt with a sandwich press inside a pillow case in a prison attack so brutal the former kickboxing champion at one point was declared dead
The man who killed underworld figure Carl Williams in prison with a bike seat stem had years earlier flogged a triple murderer with a sandwich maker.
Onetime fugitive Malcolm Naden was bashed with a sandwich press handle and serial baby killer Kathleen got into a prison fight over a toaster.
Backpacker murderer Ivan Milat was so upset when authorities took away his sandwich press he went on a hunger strike.
At the start of this year a 77-year-old man serving life for triple murder allegedly beat his 71-year-old cellmate to death at the Long Bay Correctional Complex in Sydney’s south-east.
John Walsh allegedly attacked Frank Townsend in their cell within the Kevin Waller Unit for aged and frail inmates about 10.50pm on January 2.
Walsh was in prison for murdering his wife and their two grandchildren in Cowra, in NSW’s central west, in 2008.
Backpacker killer Ivan Milat went on a hunger strike when prison authorities removed his beloved toasted sandwich maker from his cell at Goulburn’s Supermax in June 2006
Triple killer John Walsh (pictured) is accused of bashing his cellmate Frank Townsend to death with a sandwich press in the Long Bay Correctional Complex in January this year
Townsend was found in the pair’s cell suffering serious head injuries, NSW Police said at the time. He was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital where he later died.
Police allege Walsh stuffed a Breville sandwich press into a pillow case before swinging the makeshift weapon repeatedly into Townsend’s head.
Walsh, who was charged with Townsend’s murder, is due to appear at Central Local Court when his case is mentioned on February 19.
Three-time world kickboxing champion Adam Watt was so badly flogged with a sandwich press at Silverwater’s Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre, in western Sydney, he was declared dead.
The 49-year-old, who fought as ‘Aussie Sniper’, is suing Corrective Services NSW after being bashed by murderer Django O’Hara while Watt was awaiting trial on drug charges.
The attack, captured in CCTV footage, began at 8.44am on October 1, 2009.
Triple killer John Walsh (pictured) has been charged with murder after allegedly bashing to death his cellmate Frank Townsend at Long Bay Correctional Complex in January this year
Two-time killer Malcolm Naden, who was once Australia’s most wanted man, was reportedly assaulted with the handle of a sandwich press while in Goulburn jail in November 2013
O’Hara initially approached Watt from behind before hitting him over the head with a 5 kilogram Breville sandwich press inside a pillow case.
As Watt was unconscious on the ground, O’Hara belted him with the appliance again.
Watt, who lost part of an ear, claims the prison was negligent because officers failed to locate the sandwich press used in the attack, despite it being used in an earlier confrontation he had with O’Hara.
However, lawyers for the State say Watt was the aggressor in two earlier fights with O’Hara, arguing the kickboxer put O’Hara in a ‘choke hold’ and then threatened him.
Justice Peter Garling has reserved his decision.
In 2013 Watt was ruled unfit to stand trial over an alleged conspiracy to import millions of dollars worth of pseudoephedrine, following the brain injuries he sustained in the attack.
Tarek Assaad, brother of slain Brothers For Life gang member Hamad Asaad, was bashed with a sandwich press in the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre at Kempsey five months ago.
The Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater, in Sydney’s west, where kickboxer Adam Watt was attacked with a sandwich press by murderer Django O’Hara
On the morning of June 29 another inmate smashed Assaad across the face with a sandwich press, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The publication reported bones in Assaad’s face were severely fractured in the attack but a Corrective Services spokeswoman told the publication the inmate had spent only one night in hospital.
Sandwich presses have been popular prison weapons for at least 20 years.
Aspiring boxer Joshua Smart once had to fight his way out of cell at Parklea Correctional Centre, in Sydney’s west, when two inmates tried to extort they young prisoner by ‘Brevilling’ him.
Gregory John Brazel, an armed robber serving life for murdering two prostitutes and a hardware store owner, was also bashed with a sandwich press at Victoria’s Barwon Prison, near Geelong.
Five prisoners in the prison’s Acacia Unit for high-risk inmates smashed their way through a strengthened glass window to get at Brazel in an exercise yard on October 1, 1998.
Inmates Matthew Charles Johnson and Sean Jason Sonnet told Brazel he was going to be bashed for talking to prison authorities.
John Walsh (pictured) has been charged with murdering his cellmate Frank Townsend with a sandwich press in the Kevin Waller Unit of Long Bay Correctional Complex in January this year
Tarek Assaad (pictured) is the brother of slain Brothers For Life gang member Hamad Assaad and was reported assaulted with a sandwich press in the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre
The inmates took to the triple killer with whatever was handy, including a sandwich maker, a vacuum cleaner extension tube and an exercise bike seat stem.
When his attackers had finished Brazel had suffered at least six facial fractures including breaks to his nose and cheekbones.
Twelve years later Johnson used another bike seat stem to bash gangland boss Carl Williams to death in the same unit of the same prison.
The night before that murder, Johnson placed makeshift weapons around the Acacia Unit ready for the attack on April 19, 2010.
Among those weapons was an exercise bike he left outside his cell and a toasted sandwich maker Johnson put at the other end of the day room he shared with Williams.
‘Most people are armed up in jail to protect themselves,’ Johnson later told a court.’ ‘I knew I could protect myself with those things.’
Malcolm Naden, at one time Australia’s most wanted fugitive, had his own run-in with a sandwich press in the maximum security Goulburn jail in the Southern Tablelands south of Sydney.
Gangster Carl Williams was bashed to death by fellow inmate Matthew Johnson with an exercise bike seat stem but Johnson also had a sandwich press stashed nearby as a weapon
Triple murderer Gregory John Brazel, one of Victoria’s most difficult inmates, was bashed with a sandwich press, vacuum cleaner tube and bicycle seat at Barwon Prison in October 1998
Matthew Johnson was among a group of inmates who bashed notorious prisoner Gregory John Brazel with a sandwich press, vacuum cleaner tube and bike seat in Victoria’s Barwon Prison
The double killer, who was arrested in 2012 after seven years on the run, was attacked in Goulburn by his second cousin Dean Nolan, who was doing 25 years for murdering a boy.
Nolan ambushed and attacked Naden with the arm of a sandwich toaster in a yard in November 2013.
According to James Phelps’s book Australia’s Most Murderous Prison: Behind the Walls of Goulburn Jail, Nolan beat Naden about the head with the makeshift weapon until prison officers intervened.
‘He absolutely got the c**p kicked out of him by his cousin,’ one officer told Phelps. ‘I’m pretty sure he didn’t see it coming because there is little doubt he would have put up a fight.’
Naden was taken to hospital and Nolan got an extra 15 months for the assault.
Serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg was back in court three months ago after fighting with another inmate over a toaster at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.
Folbigg, who killed her four children between 1989 and 1999, was reacting to taunts about her crimes when she ‘snapped’ at Tara Mammen on April 21.
CCTV footage shows Matthew Johnson (at rear) moments before the attack which killed underworld killer and drug baron Carl Williams in Victoria’s Barwon Prison in April 2010
The crime scene in Victoria’s Barwon Prison where notorious inmate Matthew Charles Johnson bashed underworld figure Carl Williams to death with the stem of an exercise bicycle seat
In September the 50-year-old unsuccessfully appealed against an extra four months’ prison for assault.
Folbigg and Mammen had been in the jail’s protection wing on April 21 when they fought over a communal toaster.
About 8.30am Mammen walked out of her cell for muster, returned, then walked out again carrying a toaster.
Folbigg snatched the toaster out of Mammen’s hands, telling her: ‘You’re not allowed to take the f***ing toaster in the room.’
Mammen replied: ‘Well I didn’t know that. Don’t tell me what to do.’
Mammen then asked ‘What are you going to do about it then?’ and Folbigg punched her in the stomach.
District Court Judge Tanya Bright accepted Folbigg had previously been a model inmate but said assaults could not be tolerated in jail.
Matthew Johnson attacked fellow inmate Gregory John Brazel with a sandwich press, vacuum cleaner tube and exercise bike seat stem 12 years before he killed Carl Williams in the same jail
Malcolm Naden, at one time Australia’s most wanted fugitive, was reportedly assaulted with the handle of a sandwich press in the maximum security Goulburn Correctional Centre
Serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg had extra time added to her sentence after assaulting a fellow inmate during a fight over a toaster at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre
‘I accept this conduct was out of character,’ Judge Bright said.
‘And I accept that she is genuinely remorseful for her conduct which could perhaps be described as somewhat an overreaction to the situation with respect to the toaster.’
Folbigg is 14 years into a 25-year minimum term for the killing of her four children at three locations in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Even when sandwich makers are removed from prison cells they can cause trouble.
Serial killer Ivan Milat went on a hunger strike after his sandwich press was taken from his cell in Supermax within the Goulburn prison complex a decade ago.
The man who murdered seven backpackers between 1989 and 1992 loves his toasted sandwiches and refused to eat anything when his privileges were withdrawn following public outrage in June 2006.
Backpacker killer Ivan Milat was so upset by the removal of a sandwich press from his cell in Goulburn’s Supermax prison he embarked upon a hunger strike; the press was returned
Double murderer Malcolm Naden, pictured upon his capture after seven years on the run, was attacked with the arm of a sandwich maker in Goulburn Correctional Centre in November 2013
Milat’s sandwich press made it all the way to NSW Parliament when then premier Morris Iemma defended his decision to stop the lifer from making himself tasty toasted treats.
The sandwich maker – and a television which had also been removed from Milat’s cell – were returned after an inquiry found such privileges helped manage potentially difficult inmates.
Public Service Association general secretary Stewart Little told Daily Mail Australia his union has asked for sandwich presses to be removed from NSW prisons, particularly maximum security facilities.
‘In a prison so many implements can be used as a weapon but a sandwich press is an obvious one,’ Mr Little said. ‘They whack them in a pillow slip and away they go.
‘I don’t think they need to be in cells particularly where inmates have a history of violence and where the classification suggest they’re a danger to both other inmates and officers. ‘
‘We’ve called for them to be removed. Our view is they shouldn’t be in there. They are a deadly implement as we’ve seen.’
Corrective Services NSW told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Sandwich makers have been available for inmates to purchase on the NSW prison buy-up scheme for more than 20 years.’
Inmates at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater, in Sydney’s west, where kickboxer Adam Watts was bashed to within an inch of his life with a sandwich press
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