Staff shortage forces Hakea Prison into lockdown again

Saturday 11 Oct 2014

Hakea prison has been in lock down since Thursday morning due to dangerously low staffing levels.

The prison was around 27 Prison Officers short on Thursday and 17 short on Friday, even after all available staff were called in to work.

WA Prison Officers’ Union Acting Secretary Andy Smith said prisoners were only being let out of their cells for meals and visits, with bare minimum access to recreation.

“In addition to being understaffed, the prison is grossly overcrowded,” said Mr Smith. “Hakea is designed to hold approximately 700 prisoners but it’s currently housing over 1000.

“Despite an entire unit sitting vacant, two prisoners are being squeezed into cells which were originally designed for one person.

“Now due to the staff shortage, these prisoners are crammed into single cells together for hours on end, which is a recipe for disaster.”

Mr Smith said the situation was likely to get worse over the weekend.

“We are very concerned about the safety of our members if violence does break out under these conditions,” he said.

Mr Smith said even though the government had made recent attempts to recruit more Prison Officers, it was too little too late.

“We have been warning the Department for at least 12 months that we were facing a staff shortage,” he said.

“They were told a situation like this could develop and they failed to act.

“Prison safety has been compromised due to poor planning and now our members have to bear the brunt of this situation.