By David Kavanagh | posted on December 5, 2019
INMATES at Albany Regional Prison spend less time out of their cells than a majority of their peers around the state, according to figures tabled in Parliament last week.
Liberal MP Sean L’Estrange asked Minister for Corrective Services Francis Logan how much time on average adult prisoners at 15 Western Australian prisons spent out of their cells in the 2018-19 period.
He was told Albany Regional, one of four maximum-security prisons in the state, recorded “average out of cell hours” of 9.49 hours.
This put it second lowest on the list, preceded only by Bandyup Women’s Prison, where inmates spent an average of 9 hours out of their cells per day.
The state’s two other maximum-security prisons, Casuarina Prison and Hakea Prison, recorded 9.83 and 10.04 hours respectively, while prisoners at Pardelup Prison Farm near Mount Barker had on average 17 hours outside of their cells daily.
The state average for 2018-19 was 11.37 hours.
According to a Department of Justice spokesperson, the primary factor influencing out of cell hours was security classification.
“The minimum security prison farms have the greatest out of cell hours as prisoners are not locked down and can be out of their beds as early as 5.30am to milk cows or commence produce harvesting,” they said.
“The prison regime (structured day) is designed to manage the risk factors … and the regime at Albany is commensurate with other maximum security prisons in the state.”
While WA legislation does not list a minimum amount of time inmates may have out of their cells, a Productivity Commission Report on Government Services released in January noted “a relatively high or increasing average time out-of cells per day is desirable”.
It said this provided inmates opportunities for work, education and training, wellbeing, recreation and treatment programs, visits and interaction with others.
