Prison units still closed as prisoner numbers soar

Saturday 21 Jun 2014

New figures have revealed WA’s prisons are bursting at the seams, and are currently holding almost 30% more prisoners than they’re designed for.

The figures revealed Albany regional prison was currently the most overcrowded prison in the state, housing almost 70% more inmates than it was designed to hold.

The figures also showed Casuarina was 45% over its design capacity, Bunbury was 43% over and Hakea was 39% over.

John Welch from the WA Prison Officers’ Union said there had been an extraordinary spike in prisoner numbers, and predicted the situation would only get worse.

“According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Western Australia has the second highest imprisonment rate in the country,” he said.

“We expect that trend will accelerate with the introduction of the State Government’s new burglary legislation, and we are concerned the government has not put enough planning in place to compensate for that.”

Mr Welch said overcrowding in prisons had led to the government cramming two people into cells designed for one, and in some instances prisoners were forced to sleep on the floor.

He said this level of overcrowding often led to violence breaking out, which made the job even more dangerous for prison officers.

Mr Welch said despite the explosion in prisoner numbers, more than 170 cells within the state’s prisons were sitting idle.

“It is ridiculous that the government is jamming more and more prisoners into existing cells when there are others sitting there empty,” he said.

“There are units at three of the most overcrowded prisons, Albany, Bunbury and Hakea, which should have been opened to help alleviate this overcrowding problem.

“The unit at Albany was closed for renovations three years ago. How long can it possibly take to add a new coat of paint and make sure the unit is up to scratch?”

Mr Welch said at Hakea, a unit containing 64 cells was sitting empty because the government didn’t have enough staff to operate it.

“We estimate the government needs to employ an extra 200 prison officers to properly staff the prison system and open all available units,” he said.

Mr Welch said the government should also be building new units to cater for the expanding prison population.