Prison issues aired
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WA’s Hakea Prison is strained by overcrowding and poor conditions, and official inspector’s report says.
Western Australia’s Inspector of Custodial Services, Eamon Ryan, has issued a damning report on Hakea Prison, pointing to overcrowding, insufficient staff, and unsanitary conditions as key issues plaguing the facility.
The Inspector’s Annual Report for 2023-24 paints a bleak picture of the prison, where five deaths in custody have been recorded this year.
The report states that conditions at Hakea are so harsh that the Inspector issued an urgent notice to the Department of Justice, calling for immediate action to address the serious risks to prisoners' health and safety.
The notice, rarely used, reflects Ryan’s deep concern.
“Following our inspection of Hakea, I believed that the safety, care, and welfare of prisoners was at serious risk, and in some instances were subject to inhuman or degrading treatment,” he said.
The report highlights “massive overcrowding” and notes that nearly all prisons in Western Australia are now operating at or above capacity, with the number of inmates in custody rising sharply.
On June 30, 2024, the prison population stood at 7,792 - a 15 per cent increase from the previous year, driven largely by a spike in remand prisoners awaiting trial.
As the numbers grow, Hakea’s conditions continue to deteriorate.
The report describes frequent lockdowns, with some prisoners unable to access fresh air or exercise, and many held in unhygienic conditions without regular access to showers, clean cells, or private toilets.
With evening meals served as early as 4 pm and no further food provided until morning, prisoners often go up to 15 hours without eating.
The Inspector’s report found a troubling connection between limited out-of-cell hours and rising self-harm incidents.
“The correlation was clear and evident - the risk to the wellbeing and lives of prisoners cannot be ignored,” Ryan stated.
“For over 10 years we have reported on the growing issues and risks about how young people in custody were being managed in Western Australia, but our advice did not result in the systemic changes needed.”
The prison system’s challenges incluse chronic staffing shortages.
Staffing issues have led to prisoners being locked in their cells for extended periods due to a lack of personnel.
These restrictive measures have compounded the strain on detainees, creating what the report calls “inhuman or degrading treatment” as they are confined to confined, unsanitary spaces for long stretches.
Ryan’s report calls for urgent, “meaningful, and system-wide reform” to alleviate the crisis in Western Australia’s prison system.
