Contact with and connection to family and friends are key factors to maintaining the wellbeing of people in custody and for their rehabilitation prospects (Taylor, et al., 2023). Given its importance to prisoner wellbeing and successful reintegration, in 2018 this Office examined whether the Department of Justice (the Department) was meeting its responsibility to ensure family and broader relationships were being maintained while people were in custody (OICS, 2018a). For the same reasons, and as some significant challenges to maintaining contact in the years since have occurred, it was considered timely to conduct a follow-up review.
Our 2018 review noted people in custody generally maintained contact through social visits, telephone, and mail communication. Along with individual circumstances, organisational factors such
as phone operating times, visit session times, and prison policies and procedures influenced the number of visits and phone calls made. The review found it was becoming increasingly difficult for
the Department to meet family and social visits entitlements for people in custody as set out in legislation and departmental policies. This was largely due to population pressures within the prison system. The 2018 report’s key findings included:
- telephone use was high, but access was not equal
- competition for a limited number of phones caused tension and negative behaviour
- overcrowding and inefficient processes, including an outdated visit booking system, increased the difficulty for people in custody to receive visits
- population pressures increased the difficulty of placing people in custody near their families and communities which made social visits harder to access
- the Department had made positive efforts to address some of the barriers, but more could be done.
The report made five recommendations:
- Consider the use of wireless technology where adding land lines is cost prohibitive.
- Increase the remand allowance to reflect the increased costs associated with calling mobile phones.
- Review and update the remote allowance to reflect actual STD and international call costs.
- Provide daily visits at Roebourne Regional Prison to meet legislative requirements for remand prisoners.
- Implement an online booking system for social visits in all prisons.
While there have been some changes since 2018, there has been limited movement in other areas. The 2018 findings remain pertinent, but some of the recommendations are no longer applicable. For example, the introduction of a flat-rate charge made mobile, and STD calls the same price as local calls. This rendered an increase to allowances unnecessary (Recommendations 2 and 3). Similarly, Recommendation 4 became immaterial in 2022 when legislative changes reduced the remand visit entitlement to twice weekly. Recommendation 1 currently forms part of a bigger digital transformation within the custodial estate. It is expected this will include digital (wireless) technology adopted in place of the analogue system across the prison phone network. The Department has closed Recommendation 5 after implementing an online booking system. However, we have found considerable work is still required as only four facilities in Western Australia are using the system.