‘Behind locked doors, a long way from home’
Skyrocketing prison populations have seen people incarcerated far away from their homes and communities, something which is having a devastating impact, particularly on First Nations people.
An “unprecedented population growth” in prisons in Western Australia has seen First Nations people incarcerated thousands of kilometres away from their Country.
This has also occurred in the Northern Territory, where all women held at a prison block in Alice Springs were transferred to Darwin, more than 1500km away.
The prison population in Western Australia has increased dramatically in recent years.
From June 2023 to June 2024 the state’s prison population rose by 16 percent, the largest increase out of all the states and territories. This was driven by a more than 30 percent increase in the number of people held on remand in Western Australia.
The Western Australian Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services released its report based on inspections of the Greenough Regional Prison last week. The prison holds men and women across all security classifications, and is located in Geraldton in Western Australia.
The inspector found that the rise in the number of people in prison in the state has meant that First Nations people are being incarcerated in facilities far away from their Country and community.
“Many men said they had not seen their children and community supports for several months and because of this they felt ‘weak’,” the report said.
About 20 percent of the prison’s male population are now from the Pilbara or Kimberley regions, far away from the Greenough facility.
The inspector said that these men shared experiences of “loss being away from home”.
“I feel like a trespasser on someone else’s land,” one person in prison told the inspector.
“I’m behind locked doors, a long way from home,” another said.
“I just wanna go home.”
The inspector also found that a $12 million unit at Greenough specifically built for women was now occupied by men due to the influx in people in prison across the state.
In early 2024 the women being held at this purpose-built unit were relocated to Perth before being brought back, but to a different unit.
“Both groups of prisoners expressed distress at being away from family, supports and Country and reported feeling ‘lost’,” the inspector’s report said.
“The disconnection and distance was exacerbated by limited access to phones.
“Women and off Country men in Greenough are the face of system-wide pressures and should remain at the forefront of efforts to improve their situation.”
The prison population has also been ballooning in the Northern Territory.
This has led the territory government to move all female people in prison in Alice Springs to a prison in Darwin, more than 1500km away.
People being held in police watch houses in Palmerston, Katherine and Alice Springs have also been moved to prisons in Darwin and Alice Springs.
The Northern Territory prison population increased by 7 percent in the last quarter of 2024, with 2704 people in prison by March. This means that more than 1 percent of the territory’s population is currently incarcerated.