1. Ensure low security prisoners are able to access appropriate regimes focussed on supporting reintegration.
  2. Provide sufficient staffing levels to cover all of the prison’s internal and external duties, including industries, education, staff training, medical escorts and additional hospital sits, without recourse to excessive overtime or redeployment.
  3. Improve staff retention and stability by:
    1. ensuring that Casuarina employees working in ongoing positions have stability and are not employed through continuing renewals of short term contracts; and
    2. providing attractive incentives and career pathways for early stage administration staff at Casuarina.
  4. The Performance Assessment Development System should be revised to ensure that
    1. it facilitates accurate assessment of performance; and
    2. it identifies and provides appropriate employee training and development.
  5. Review the contract for prisoner transport and hospital sits to ensure that the level of demand is met for Casuarina and other Western Australian prisons.
  6. Review the cameras, locations, recording abilities and vision with a view to upgrading existing cameras, providing new cameras to eliminate blind spots, and ensuring that cameras are auto recording.
  7. Expand the kitchen or build a new kitchen with sufficient capacity to meet current and future prisoner population demand.
  8. Ensure regular scheduled unit meetings are held and establish a representative prisoner forum similar to those run at Acacia, Albany and Bunbury prisons.
  9. Recommend that:
    1. Develop a pilot scheme at Casuarina to facilitate improved communication between prison management and family members of prisoners.
    2. Monitor and review the pilot scheme in order to assess the desirability of developing a system wide service when resources allow.
  10. Provide an upgraded medical centre, sufficient to meet current and projected needs of the prisoner population.
  11. Recommend that
    1. Screening for literacy levels should be used to identify prisoners who will require assistance for access to medical services.
    2. Develop a less complex referral process for medical appointments.
  12. Conduct an assessment of current and future demand for specialist infirmary services across the prison system and invest as necessary in Casuarina and other prisons.
  13. Government should provide additional statewide specialist mental health facilities, in both hospitals and prisons.
  14. Develop a multidisciplinary model of care for mentally ill prisoners, building on the strong links between the Prison Counselling Service, medical staff and GPs.
  15. In order to address the ongoing problems of unemployment and underemployment the Department should:
    1. ensure all eligible prisoners at Casuarina are offered meaningful employment and/or education and skill development activity; and
    2. fund the prison’s plans for increased industries, and increase the VSO staffing to ensure sufficient prisoner skill-development and training.
  16. Conduct an assessment of current and future demand for specialist assisted care facilities across the prison system and invest as necessary in Casuarina and other prisons.
  17. Reinvigorate the PASC process with well-resourced management and support at the head office and prison levels.
  18. Complete and implement a review of the obstacles to progression through security classifications for Aboriginal prisoners.
  19. Provide the Learning Centre with a discrete budget with sufficient funding for Aboriginal programs.
  20. Subject to appropriate assessment, Aboriginal prisoners from remote and regional communities should be accommodated together in dedicated accommodation.
  21. Ensure the peer support team is representative of all cultural groups to ensure appropriate levels of assistance.
  22. Recommend that:
    1. Ensure greater Aboriginal engagement with meaningful employment, training, and cultural activity; and
    2. Ensure the gratuities system achieves substantive equality for Aboriginal prisoners.

Read Agency Responses to Recommendations

Page last updated: October 6, 2014