• This inspection found that Bunbury was a well-performing prison where competent local management  and staff teams were providing a generally safe, therapeutic, and productive environment.
  • The prison excelled in staff-prisoner relations, and there were good mechanisms ensuring that prisoners were able to have a voice in regards to operations, services, and conditions at Bunbury.
  • The security team performed well despite facing significant infrastructure issues.
  • The prison had a committed and competent health team.
  • The peer support system and guidance for Aboriginal prisoners was strong, based in part on the considerable experience of the Prison Support Officer and the Aboriginal Visitor Service visitors.
  • Program provision, one of the prison’s key services, continued to be well-provided, as were counselling services. Bunbury’s chaplains also continued to provide highly valued spiritual support, mentoring, and voluntary programs.
  • Bunbury had a competent management team who demonstrated good strategic planning in resource-limited conditions.
  • Industries and gardens were highly productive, and the prison’s finances were very well managed. Some areas of industries excelled in the provision of employment-relevant training.
  • A dedicated re-entry manager and team cooperated well with the re-entry services provider (AccordWest) to support prisoners’ education and training, employment, life skills and transitional needs.
  • Despite these strengths and achievements, Bunbury was however, hampered by:
    • inhumane conditions in some of the prisoner accommodation, coupled with an inability to properly manage different groups;
    • inadequate strategies for reducing prisoners’ access to and use of illicit substances;
    • a need to improve substantive equality for Aboriginal prisoners (despite some good practices);
    • a lack of resocialisation opportunities for long sentence prisoners;
    • some issues with respect to staff culture and morale;
    • an understaffed prison management team; and
    • a need for greater Departmental strategic direction and support for the Pre-Release Unit (PRU), reintegration services, and Integrated Offender Management.
Page last updated: August 10, 2015