Taken together, the evidence indicates that Hakea, Casuarina and Melaleuca are operating under
extreme and sustained pressure, with population growth (driven by unprecedented rises in remand
numbers), chronic staffing shortages and capacity constraints fundamentally undermining prisoner
and staff wellbeing. Overcrowding has become routine, lockdowns increasingly normalised, and time
out of cell, access to healthcare, family contact and rehabilitative activity significantly reduced. These
17 conditions are associated with rising self‑harm, increased use of force and persistent low‑level
violence, indicating environments that are increasingly volatile and psychologically harmful.
Concerningly, we are also observing similar pressures elsewhere across the adult prison system.
At the same time, staff safety, morale and capacity are deteriorating. Officers describe working in
unsafe and unsustainable conditions marked by high assault risk, inadequate supervision ratios,
reliance on inexperienced staff and frequent redeployments. Prolonged exposure to violence,
trauma, and moral distress—combined with short‑term crisis responses—has left many staff burnt
out and concerned that serious incidents are inevitable. While the prisons continue to function in a
technical sense, they are doing so at the cost of prisoner wellbeing, staff safety and long‑term system
integrity, with the risk of further deaths, serious disturbances or systemic failure remaining
unacceptably high without urgent intervention.
Finally, our report documents many of the enormous pressures the prison system is experiencing,
but many of the driving factors behind these pressures are outside their control. To name a few, the
reasons behind the rapidly rising remand population, the causes of the significant increases seen in
the length of time prisoners are spending on remand, and the availability of post-release support
services. All of these require attention and reform in equal measure to system wide change in the
prison system.