The State Government has vowed to "shine a bright light" on aseries of bungles surrounding the escape of three intellectuallydisabled child-sex offenders from a supposedly secure facility. Butthe results of the departmental review may never be madepublic.

Acting Community Services Minister Bronwyn Pike has ordered theDepartment of Human Services to investigate how the three men, aged32, 24 and 18, broke out of the Statewide Forensic Services centreat 10.30pm on Wednesday, and the way the matter was handled by thedepartment and police.

Ms Pike said she was not informed about the incident until 9amthe next day, was given inaccurate details about their escape andambiguous information regarding suppression orders surrounding thethree men. Ms Pike told an 11am press conference that day that thethree men had scaled a wall of the Fairfield centre and escaped. Itwas later revealed that the men had stolen a key and let themselvesout.

The Government has come under fire for not releasing the men'sidentities, at least two of which are subject to court suppressionorders. The men spent more than 20 hours at large before beingapprehended by police in the central business district about 8pm onThursday.

"I've asked (DHS) immediately to review the security at theinstitution to make sure this doesn't happen again, but of coursethat is not enough," Ms Pike said. "I've also called for a full andcomprehensive report.

"We need to know why these people were able to get out in thefirst place … and what are the security provisions in theinstitution. Secondly, I want to know whether the … protocolsbetween the police and the Department of Human Services wereadequate and thirdly, I'm also concerned about the communication ofinformation to myself so that I could fully understand andappreciate what had happened."

Ms Pike said the community may never see the results of thereview, citing police "operational matters", but maintained thereview was to "reveal things".

Opposition police spokesman Andrew McIntosh slammed the internalreview, saying it would be nothing more than "arse-covering" by thedepartment. "You've had a complete stuff-up. The Government aretrying to spin it by setting up some dodgy review that will neversee the light of day," he said.

Ms Pike said a security upgrade last year and a recentevaluation had been "inadequate".

■ County Court judge Frances Millane remanded one of theescapees in custody yesterday. The man, who has been charged withbreaching a 10-year supervision order imposed on him by the CountyCourt in April last year, has been ordered to appear again onFebruary 2. He cannot be named for legal reasons.

- With Julia Medew