'Failed to meet even the most basic requirements': Inhumane conditions flagged in remand prison

A coroner has agreed that Hakea Prison in WA is not fit-for-purpose, with the state's watchdog finding widespread human rights abuses at the centre.

Even the deputy superintendent of Hakea Prison himself agrees that the facility, built in the early 1980s, is not fit-for-purpose.

In May last year the Western Australian prison inspector took the rare step of issuing a show cause notice to the state government over a number of human rights abuses it identified at Hakea Prison, and there has been little improvement in the year since.

In March, coroner Philip Urquhart handed down his findings into the death of 22-year-old Noongar man Ricky-Lee Cound at Hakea Prison in 2022. The inquiry heard from the deputy superintendent of the prison, who said the facility was no longer fit-for-purpose, something which the coroner agreed with.

“I have no hesitation in accepting Hakea is well past its use-by-date, having been commissioned in 1981,” Urquhart said in his findings.

“I completely agree with [the] candid admission it is a prison that is ‘no longer fit for purpose’.”

The final report also identified a lack of culturally safe therapeutic care in prisons and an urgent need for reform across the board.

The coronial findings came less than a year after the WA Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services flagged that those being held at Hakea were being treated in a manner that was cruel, inhuman or degrading.

This included people at times being confined to their cells for days on end due to excessive lockdowns, a lack of access to clean bedding and cloths, pest infestations and “rare” access to fresh air.

The OICS issued a cause notice to the WA Department of Justice on 27 May 2024.

“We observed increasing levels of anger and frustration in prisoners, which was leading to challenging or dangerous behaviour, including suicides, suicide attempts, serious self-harm and assaults,” the OICS said.

The OICS also referred the notice to the Minister for Corrective Services.

In the year since, the inspector has conducted a number of subsequent inspections of the prison and seen few improvements to the dire situation.

“This monitoring has found that, with a few exceptions, there have not been significant improvements in the conditions at Hakea Prison,” the OICS said in a statement.

The office will now prepare a follow-up inspection report to be tabled in the WA Parliament in the coming months.

Four months after this notice was issued, the WA government stumped up the Hakea Prison Safer Custody Taskforce which will be “shaping and driving” actions aiming to improve conditions at the centre.

This taskforce has identified nearly 50 short, medium and long-term actions since it was launched.

Those incarcerated at Hakea Prison are continuing to have their basic human rights violated, the OICS said.

In the last eight months, the average time out of cell for people in the prison was between 5.5 and 6 hours per day, a marginal improvement since the last inspection. The number of threatened or attempted suicide or self-harm incidents continued at high levels, and there were two recorded deaths in custody since the last inspection.

Nearly half of all scheduled visits sessions at the prison were cancelled or reduced in the last eight months.

“All of this shows that the situation at Hakea remains critical,” the OICS said.

“The pace of improvement has been too slow and the conditions for the prisoners held in Hakea remain unsatisfactory.”

The inspections of Hakea found that living conditions were “inhumane and failing to meet basic guidelines”, with the movements of those held there “severely restricted”.

“Many prisoners were confined to small, unhygienic cells that attracted pests and failed to meet even the most basic requirements,” the report said.

“When prisoners were briefly unlocked, they were forced to choose between essential activities such as showering, recreating, attending medical appointments or maintaining contact with the outside world.”

It also found that the prison’s physical and mental health services were overwhelmed, with a nurse-to-prisoner ratio of about one to 86.

“Services struggled to cope with the demand, resulting in long wait times and limited access to care,” it said.

“Mental health services were forced to prioritise at-risk prisoners, leaving others struggling without adequate support.”