Call to fill under-utilised jail

The independent inspector of WA’s prison system has set the Government the target of filling the State’s “severely under-utilised” young men’s jail within six months.

Wandoo Reintegration Facility, opened in October 2012, was designed as a specialist facility targeting low-risk, 18 to 22-year-old men but the Government has struggled to find enough inmates to fill it.

The Government has already broadened the maximum age criteria to 24.

But as of today, the facility designed for 80 inmates contains just 38 at a time when extra millions are being pumped into the rest of the prison system to combat over-crowding.

In his first report on Wandoo, released today, Inspector of Custodial Services Neil Morgan found the facility was an “innovative and well-functioning facility” but it “must be filled and its potential maximised”.

Even if operating at full capacity, the cost of housing prisoners at Wandoo at $370 per person per day would be well above the $290 elsewhere in the system.

When Professor Morgan visited in May 2014, there were 49 inmates, and the Department of Corrective Services advised the actual cost per day was $570 per inmate.

Professor Morgan today said it appeared “likely” the Government would increase the age limit again to 28.

While this was “supportable” because social and mental maturation extended well into men’s 20s, the Government could find enough inmates with “a more nuanced” assessment criteria.

Youth, for example, counted against a prisoner being classified as minimum security.

Shadow corrective services minister Paul Papalia said the Wandoo experiment had failed and the Government should turn it into a women’s prison.

This would save the $20 million the Government is planning to spend converting two units at Hakea Prison into a women’s facility.

Professor Morgan cautioned against that approach because there were more female remand prisoners than could be accommodated at Hakea.