Overview
- The Inspector of Custodial Services, Eamon Ryan, tabled a report on Tuesday that finds Hakea, Casuarina and Melaleuca prisons operating beyond capacity and issued a formal show‑cause notice to the Justice Department and minister.
- The report links the crisis to a 37 percent rise in the prisoner population since early 2023, saying cells and staff did not grow with that increase and that overcrowding now includes triple‑bunking and about 120 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
- Chronic staff shortfalls have driven routine lockdowns, sharply reduced time out of cell, cancelled family contact and limited basic services, the inspector says, creating restrictive regimes that routinely deny fundamental entitlements.
- Ryan warns the three prisons account for a disproportionate share of use‑of‑force incidents, assaults and fatal self‑harm and says current conditions mirror warning signs present before the 2018 Greenough riot.
- The Justice Department and Corrective Services point to risk‑management teams, a sustained recruitment drive and nearly $500 million budgeted for prison expansion, but the inspector says those measures are piecemeal and has demanded a comprehensive, costed, time‑bound implementation plan or the issue may face further parliamentary, legal or human‑rights escalation.