Section 3: Prisons

The following detail has been sourced (and then modified) through the Department of Corrective Services website.

Current facilities

Prisons - Metropolitan

Acacia Prison

Acacia Prison is about 50 km east of Perth in the Wooroloo area and is the only privately-managed prison in Western Australia. It was opened in 2001, and accommodates 750 males (prison design capacity) as a medium security facility. The prison, owned by the Department of Corrective Services, contracts its management to an external service provider. The current contractor, Serco Australia, began a five-year contract at Acacia in May 2006. Australian Integration Management Services Corporation (AIMS Corp) was the contractor for the first five years, from May 2001, but had its contract withdrawn due to failings in its administration of the prison.

Before prisoners transfer to Acacia they undergo a case management assessment at Hakea Prison to develop individual management plans. At Acacia, case managers work with prisoners to design individual management plans, including programs and work needs. Offenders are expected to work or study, and can access the prison's education and employment facilities. The prison houses up to 800 prisoners within three levels of accommodation. Varying degrees of privileges are attached to each level. The prison provides a range of services to manage the prisoners' needs. There are also interconnecting 'buddy' cells and four-bed cells for those who want to share, although most are accommodated in single-cells only. Acacia delivers a range of accredited programs in line with prisoners' individual management plans. As a Registered Training Organisation, Acacia delivers educational courses and vocational training to prisoners. Prisoners are employed in a wide variety of industries including food processing, metal work, woodwork, commercial laundry, kitchen, horticulture and grounds maintenance, education support services and general services. Prisoners also have access to recreational activities. Up to 168 prisoners can be housed in self-care units where they cook their own meals and do their own laundry. The prison is also required to support prisoners re-entering the community by providing links with local community organisations.

Bandyup Women's Prison

Bandyup was opened in 1969 in Perth. Previously, women had been housed in mixed gender facilities, although kept separate from male prisoners. With the opening of Bandyup, they were transferred from Fremantle. Bandyup Women's Prison is the only female prison in Western Australia that caters for all security classifications. Bandyup holds women on remand awaiting a court appearance, assesses newly-sentenced prisoners, and manages women who are completing sentences. It has managed female prisoners since 1970 when Corrective Services took over the site at West Swan and transferred all the women prisoners from Fremantle Prison. Fremantle Prison could not cope with the overcrowding in its female section, and the women suffered from limited opportunities in the confined facility. It has a design capacity of 147 females.

The prison works with the Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women, which manages suitable women ready for a minimum-security environment. Bandyup is also developing a self-care accommodation unit on the existing prison site to provide for another 40 women prisoners. As well as standard-living units, women can reside in a drug-free unit, earn privilege self-care accommodation or transitional accommodation, which focuses on developing life skills to assist with the transition to the community or a pre-release centre. A mother and baby unit allows babies up to 12-months old to live with their mothers. Prisoners are employed to help maintain the prison, or on contracts for private industry and Government agencies. As part of this, traineeships and vocational skills training are available to prisoners. Bandyup provides prisoners with self-development and therapeutic programs, focusing on such issues as substance use, anger management and self-development. A wide range of educational programs are offered, ranging from basic literacy and numeracy to tertiary level.

Bandyup Women's Prison was awarded a Certificate of Merit in 2006 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards for the Prisoners and Their Families program (Media release:

Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women

Boronia Pre-release Centre was opened in 2004. It manages up to 70 women and their children in a community-style setting. The centre is built on the site of the former Longmore Detention Centre for juveniles, which was closed in 1997. The adjacent Nyandi facility, a former juvenile detention centre for girls, was a low-security women's prison before it moved to the neighbouring site to become Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women. Up to five women live in each Homeswest-style house where they are responsible for cooking; cleaning; budgeting; and buying groceries at the centre supermarket. Women are required to work or study. They can enrol in traineeships in areas such as hospitality, horticulture, retail operations, asset management and retail supervision. Women undertake work in the local community for businesses and not-for-profit organisations.

Boronia is guided by four values and principles: personal responsibility and empowerment; family responsibilities; community responsibility; and respect and integrity. According to the Department, the Boronia model This model is based on the principle that, ‘while imprisonment serves as a punishment for crime, it also provides an opportunity to maximise each woman's potential to positively, confidently and safely reintegrate with their families and communities following release.' It is the State's first prison to have a community advisory group. The group is made up of local residents and business operators who meet monthly with Department of Corrective Services staff to provide community input, feedback and involvement into the centre's operations. Community advisory group members can be contacted by members of the community to discuss issues, ideas and to present community views at the advisory group meetings. The Community Advisory Group played a role in the design and construction of the facility.

Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women's community engagement and volunteer program is the first program of its kind Western Australia. It involves both local community groups entering the prison to run programs and activities for the women, as well as the women working in the community to support local organisations, such as Swan Village of Care and the RSPCA. In addition, Boronia has a volunteering program, which involves community members entering the prison to work with the prisoners as mentors, visitors, tutors or to help the women enhance their employment skills.

The Community Re-entry for Prisoners Program has been developed to assist offenders in the critical transition period back into the community. Beginning three months prior to release, the program relies on partnerships with a range of non-government organisations that provide coordinated services to prisoners. The program services are accessible up to six months following release.

The Program includes:

• re-entry coordination services: partnerships with non-government organisations to link ex-prisoners to existing community services that provide welfare, housing, drug treatment and counselling support, in addition to training and employment assistance;
• accommodation: about 33 houses/units have been made available for prisoners being released from custody;
• education and employment: programs will be expanded. Currently WA has the highest percentage of prisoners (57%) accessing programs;
• mental health taskforce: increased services at courts, prisons and within the community for people with mental health issues;
• family and community support: improved family visits to prisons, including the creation of family-friendly environments;
• justice drug strategy: includes evaluation of WA's Drug Court, pharmacotherapies, rehabilitation in custody and the community, and blood-borne communicable diseases management; and
• mediation: increases the participation of victims, offenders and others in the criminal justice system. Funding has been allocated to the Victim-offender Mediation Unit for a full-time mediator based in a Perth court.

The Centre won the John Curtin Medal in 2006 for its contribution to the community and to corrective services in Western Australia (Media release) For positive evaluation by Independent Inspector of Custodial Services, click here.

Casuarina Prison

Casuarina Prison is the main maximum-security prison for male prisoners - particularly long-term prisoners - in Western Australia. It replaced the 130-year-old Fremantle Prison as the State's main maximum-security prison in 1991and has a capacity of 397. It is located 30 km south of Perth. It has a special unit for intensive high-security supervision of offenders and is surrounded by a range of state-of-the-art security devices. Most prisoners are housed in six living units.

The prison has 11 workshops where prisoners develop skills in metal fabrication, cabinet making, boot and shoe manufacturing, printing, baking and making concrete products. The education centre offers courses from basic literacy and numeracy classes to further studies including full-time TAFE and external university studies. Prisoner programs address sex offending, violence, substance abuse and cognitive skills. The prison infirmary is the biggest prison medical facility in the State and has a similar capacity to a small country hospital.

Casuarina opened a living unit specifically designed to meet the needs of Aboriginal prisoners from remote areas in November 2007.

See media release.

Hakea Prison (formerly Canning Vale Prison and CW Campbell Remand Centre)

Hakea Prison was opened in 1982, with a capacity of 617. The Canning Vale Prison and the CW Campbell Remand Centre were merged to become Hakea Prison in 2000. Canning Vale Prison opened officially in June 1982, managing 248 prisoners. From September 1991, Canning Vale operated as a maximum-security prison until it merged with the remand centre in 2000. It is located 27km south of Perth. It manages prisoners remanded in custody to appear in court or those who have just been sentenced. Newly-sentenced prisoners are assessed at Hakea Prison before being placed at other WA prisons. Prisoners are employed in a large laundry, or work in areas such as carpentry, spray painting, concrete products, upholstery, food preparation, domestic duties as well as maintenance and gardening around the prison. Trade training is also available. The prison's education centre provides up to 30 prisoners with full-time education. Studies range from basic literacy training through to tertiary courses. The centre also provides education for up to 40 part-time students and offers TAFE bridging certificates for Aboriginal students. A 15-bed crisis-care facility at Hakea serves the needs of a small group of acute and, at times, chronic risk offenders who require specialised treatment and support interventions. Hakea also hosts a self-care block designed mainly for long-term prisoners. It allows selected prisoners to cook and clean for themselves.

Karnet Prison Farm

Karnet Prison Farm was initially opened in 1963 to treat convicted alcoholics. Alcoholics Anonymous and a psychiatric service were employed to educate prisoners. The prison was also opened to accommodate the excess number of prisoners who had been held at Fremantle. Karnet's initial intake was about 60 prisoners. In 1971, it held 90 prisoners who worked the 375ha property to provide meat, eggs, and vegetables for the other prisons in the State. In 1999, a 48-bed self-care unit was built to allow prisoners to cook and clean for themselves. A visitors' centre was also built during this period. Twelve beds were added to the facility in 2005 and in 2006 a perimeter fence and entry buildings were being constructed as part of a redevelopment project. It is 73 km south of Perth.

Prison activity revolves around agricultural production, to supply other custodial facilities. The prison breeds cattle and sheep and is responsible for buying and breeding beef cattle for the Department's three prison farms, at Karnet, Wooroloo and Pardelup. The prison also has an abattoir, a dairy, a poultry farm, market gardens and an orchard that supplies citrus and stone fruit. Prisoners who work in these operations can complete rural traineeships that are recognised in the wider community. The prison runs treatment programs to enable prisoners to address their offending behaviour before leaving prison.

Many prisoners also take part in the Section 94 community work party, working in the local area on projects for not-for-profit groups or organisations.

Wooroloo Prison Farm

Wooroloo Prison Farm was built in 1915 as a sanatorium for people with tuberculosis and leprosy and, as a result, the prison buildings are listed on the State Register of Heritage Places. By the 1960s, the sanatorium was no longer required and the institution became a general hospital for the surrounding district. The hospital closed in 1970 and Corrective Services took over the site in 1972. Wooroloo Prison was established as a minimum-security prison with an arrangement it would continue to offer the use of its amenities to the local community - locals continue to use the prison swimming pool today. A perimeter fence was completed at Wooroloo in 2007 and in April 2008 a redevelopment program was completed to replace buildings lost in a major fire in 1997 and to improve other prison facilities. The 2008 project increased prison capacity by 35 beds to 250, and included the construction of three six-bed self care units and refurbishment of other prisoner accommodation. A new prisoner induction area, a new health building and the refurbishment and extension of existing buildings to create an education area were also part of the 2008 project. Prisoners work in the local community and are involved in reforestation programs, Department of Environment and Conservation programs, training at local businesses and general community projects. The prison farm breeds and fattens sheep and cattle to provide food for the prison system. The prison's large industries complex produces goods for the prison system and for external contracts. Prisoners are taught workshop skills and many undertake traineeships to help them gain employment upon release from prison. Up to 12 prisoners from Wooroloo are based at the Kellerberrin work camp.

Prisons - Regional

Albany Regional Prison

Albany is 8km west of Albany, 408 km south of Perth. It is the only maximum-security prison outside Perth, and also manages medium and minimum-security prisoners and holds a significant number of long-term prisoners originally from other countries. It was opened in 1966 with a capacity of 72 minimum security cells. It was upgraded to maximum security in 1979 and expanded to a capacity of 126 in 1988. In 1993, it expanded to 186 standard-bed cells.

Albany Prison has administered Pardelup and Walpole work camps since 1996. Pardelup farm, at Mt Barker, provides livestock to other State prisons. Work camps provides labour for local community projects for the Plantagenet and Walpole communities.

Education opportunities for prisoners at Albany include full-time study in English and maths (general education to tertiary level), art, music and computer tuition. Prisoners can work in the metal, carpentry, textiles, or furniture upholstery workshops, or work as cooks, gardeners or cleaners.

Broome Regional Prison

Broome Regional Prison manages male and female prisoners of all security ratings from across the Kimberley region. It was opened in 1945, and is the only prison in the Kimberley. Broome is the oldest prison in the State still functioning as a prison. It manages a high percentage of Aboriginal prisoners, and has a design capacity of 66, and a work camp capacity of 46. The Department's Alternatives to Violence Unit runs the Kimberley offender program, which is a combined anger management and substance abuse treatment course. The program is geared toward Aboriginal offenders and looks closely at the link between alcohol and violent offending as well as sex-offending issues. The prison also manages the Bungarun work camp.

Bunbury Regional Prison

Bunbury Regional Prison has a capacity of 188, and is located 180 km south of Perth. The prison opened in 1971. The minimum-security block was commissioned in 1982. As part of a major upgrade in 1992, self-care accommodation was added. It includes a short-term maximum-security section for managing people remanded in custody to appear in court. The minimum-security section is a self-contained unit separate from the main prison. The self-care unit allows prisoners to do their own cooking and cleaning. The prison is developing a minimum-security facility on the existing prison site to accommodate 72 prisoners, and to assist prisoners in their transition back into the community. The redevelopment is part of a strategy to provide additional beds for the State's increasing prisoner population.

Offenders are expected to work or study, and can access the prison's education and employment facilities. In the education centre, prisoners can study subjects from basic adult literacy and numeracy to a wide range of TAFE subjects and courses. There are also opportunities for employment within the prison. The prison's market garden supplies a large proportion of fresh vegetables consumed in the State's prisons. It is the major employer of minimum-security prisoners and off-sets the cost of managing prisons in the State. Bunbury Prison also has a team of prisoners working on community projects throughout the South-West region. Recent projects undertaken by Bunbury Regional Prison prisoners include sand dune rehabilitation at Injidup Beach and track construction at Sugarloaf, on the Cape to Cape trail.

Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison

Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison was opened in 1980, and replaced the Kalgoorlie Regional Prison. The old prison was retained as an annexe to the new prison for three years to hold maximum and medium-security prisoners on a short-term basis. It was closed down permanently with the opening of a maximum-security remand block at the new prison in 1983. It has a capacity of 100, with a work camp capacity of 24. It is 614 km east of Perth, and is an integrated minimum-security facility, which has a capacity to manage higher security male and female prisoners for a short term to allow visits or court appearances. The prison manages a high percentage of Aboriginal prisoners. In April 2005, the prison opened the Mt Morgans work camp, which allows approved low-risk prisoners to live, care for themselves and work under supervision in the area.

Greenough Regional Prison

Greenough Regional Prison was opened in 1984. It was designed and built as a minimum-security prison, replacing the Geraldton Prison. It was upgraded in 1990 to a medium-security prison. A medium-security perimeter was built and close-circuit television surveillance was installed. A further upgrade was completed in 1996, and in 1999 a 36-bed minimum security facility was opened. It manages male and female prisoners from throughout the Midwest region, extending from Exmouth in the north to Moora in the south, and east as far as Wiluna. It has a capacity of 219, and manages a high percentage of Aboriginal prisoners and up to 29 female prisoners. Two cells are designed for mothers and babies. The prison offers educational, vocational and offending behaviour education programs and opportunities. Programs include sex-offender treatment, drug and alcohol programs, domestic violence programs and cognitive skills.

Roebourne Regional Prison

Roebourne Regional Prison opened in 1984 after the old Roebourne Gaol was closed. A larger facility was needed to service the growing community following the expansion of mining and pastoral industries in the 1970s and 1980s. The prison originally managed 70 minimum-security prisoners, but was upgraded to medium-security in 1995. It has a capacity of 116, and a work camp capacity of 8. manages prisoners in single, two, four and six-bed cells.The prison's catchment area covers much of the Pilbara and the Kimberley regions. It manages a high percentage of Aboriginal prisoners. Prisoners are required to work or study. The prison has a full-time education officer who is assisted by tutors to provide full-time education from basic literacy to higher education. Running parallel to vocational training are courses on first aid, alcohol and drug education, alternatives to violence, and hygiene. The prison also manages the Millstream work camp.

Future facilities

I

As a result of the KARG (see above), a Kimberley Custodial Plan was released in 2006, and underpins development of a new prison at Derby - the West Kimberley Regional Prison Project. It is intended that the prison will house up to 150 male and female prisoners with all security classifications, with the majority being Aboriginal people from the Kimberley region. It is seen as a landmark facility, the first prison in Australia to be designed, constructed and operated specifically to meet Indigenous needs. A Derby Community Reference Group and a Kimberley Cultural Advisory Group will ensure that community is involved in the project and facility. The Department indicates that Aboriginal community will be involved in prison programs and will support efforts to successfully re-introduce prisoners into society. Consultation during planning, construction and operation will ensure:

• a respect for culture in all aspects of the project
• the creation of culturally appropriate prison design, programs and services
• Kimberley prisoners can remain closer to family and country
• local Aboriginal people have opportunities to work in the prison (the aim is to fill up to 50% of all prison positions with Aboriginal staff).

Along with an upgrade of Broome prison, the new facility will improve services for Indigenous people in the region. (See media release 1 and 2).

Kimberley Work Camp

The Government has also allocated approximately $10 million to create Western Australia's first purpose-built work camp in the East Kimberley. The new facility, due for completion in mid-2009, will replace the existing Wyndham Work Camp and will accommodate up to 40 minimum security prisoners, double the capacity of the existing work camp. The increased capacity of the work camp will mean more Aboriginal prisoners from the East Kimberley can be housed closer to their country and family support. This new facility will complement services provided by Broome Regional Prison and the 20 bed Bungarun work camp near Derby. Its design will tie in with the West Kimberley Regional Prison, which is due for completion in 2011, to ensure continuity of custodial services in the Kimberley. Department of Corrective Services has identified a preferred site for the work camp approximately 12km from Wyndham.

Goldfields Custodial Plan

The Department intended to develop a plan for custodial services in the Goldfields Ngaanyatjarra Lands region, but the status of the plan is not clear.

Click here for a media release on community engagement with Ngaanyatjarra Lands communities.

Closed facilities

1991

Fremantle Prison

As the largest such project ever undertaken in Western Australia at time, Fremantle Prison Conservation & Future Use project commenced in 1991, making extensive investigations & researches into Prison site, its history & heritage potential. It reported to State Government during 1990, recommending that the Prison be conserved as a significant heritage site, and this recommendation was accepted by Government.