1. Incorporate examples of good design and practice found at WKRP at other prisons and in future building programs.
  2. Ensure that the total project management arrangements for future prison builds are more robust, collaborative and proactive than was the case at WKRP.
  3. Implement appropriate screening and training processes for staff wishing to transfer to WKRP.
  4. Implement the recommendations identified in the Emergency Services Group review of the WKRP master control room.
  5. Enhance the physical environment of the management units to provide space that is safe and conducive to settling and treating vulnerable prisoners.
  6. Provide an additional position in the WKRP security team.
  7. Ensure that staff recruitment and training practices maximise the opportunities for the local population, particularly Aboriginal people, to obtain employment at WKRP.
  8. Permanently fill vacant Principal Officer positions across the state.
  9. Remedy basic training gaps and fill the satellite trainer position at WKRP.
  10. Deliver programs at WKRP for Kimberley women.
  11. Provide more life skills training for WKRP prisoners.
  12. Allow prisons to conduct their own escorts when the contractor’s quote is more expensive than that of the prisons, or when the contractor is unable to provide the requested service.
  13. Revise the blanket policies which require restraints to be used on all prisoners attending funerals and medical treatment, adopting a more nuanced approach to risk management, including recognition of minimum security status or Section 95 approval.
  14. Fit fire doors to the houses in the women’s section.
  15. Learn from the way in which WKRP approaches the management of female prisoners and ensure that all the state’s mixed gender prisons allow integration, subject to appropriate individual risk assessments and supervision.
  16. Review processes at WKRP to achieve a more appropriate and timely distribution of medications.
  17. Ensure that all medical staff are provided with timely opportunities to attend mandatory training.
  18. The Department to initiate discussions with the Health Department and the Mental Health Commission to allow mentally ill prisoners from WKRP to receive inpatient treatment in a locked authorised bed in Broome Hospital rather than being transported to Perth.
  19. The Department must finalise its planning for the closure of Broome Regional Prison and for the future of custodial corrections in the Kimberley, including genuine consultation with stakeholders and communication with its staff.
  20. Cease the practice whereby prisoners automatically lose Section 95 status on transfer between prisons.
  21. For as long as Broome Regional Prison remains open, increase custodial and medical staffing levels to provide appropriate basic services to prisoners.
  22. The Department, in conjunction with Western Australian Police, to implement more efficient and cost-effective arrangements for the housing, transportation and care of prisoners in lockups across the Kimberley.
  23. Develop and action a plan that includes a new prison in the East Kimberly, maximises the use of Wyndham Work Camp and examines the feasibility of a short term holding and assessment centre in Kununurra.
Page last updated: May 5, 2015