Below is information, and where available, photographs of prisons within Western Australia. If you have any images we do not currently have, and you wouldn't mind sharing them, please email us, and we will give full credit to you for providing them.

Please click here to view standard rules applying to all Australian Prisons. Remember to always check with the facility you are planning on visiting to find out about their procedures and what is expected of you as each centre is different.

Acacia Prison

Acacia Prison is situated some 50km east of Perth in the Wooroloo area. It is the first privately managed prison in Western Australia. This modern prison has been designed after extensive research into best practise in other leading countries.

Fully owned by the Department of Justice, the contract for managing the prison was awarded to Australian Integration Management Services Corporation (AIMS Corp) and the prison was opened in May 2001.

Acacia can hold up to 750 prisoners with medium-security ratings and is geared to manage all the needs of the prisoners sent to it by the Department of Justice. Before being transferred to Acacia, prisoners first go through a case management assessment process at Hakea Prison to develop individual management plans. At Acacia, the AIMS case managers can help prisoners complete the individual management plan components - such as programs and work needs.

Acacia's design is an open campus-style plan and allows for significant freedom of movement within the perimeter wall. Prisoners use smart card technology to move within the boundaries of the prison as well as gaining access to their bank accounts and purchasing goods from the canteen.

The prison has three levels of accommodation, with varying degrees of privileges attached to each level. Each cell accommodates a single prisoner and each has its own toilet , shower and basin facilities. There are also inter-leading "buddy" cells and four-out cells for those who want to share.

This prison has capacity for 168 prisoners to be housed in the self-care units. This means that almost a quarter of the prison's population will live in units where they will cook their own meals and do their own laundry.

As a requirement of the Acacia Prison service level agreement, an annual performance review was undertaken by independent consultants Ansor Consulting Pty Ltd, specialist consultants in health and security, assisted by staff from the Department of Justice. The scope of the review was to analyse Acacia's performance against the original concept and operational philosophy and to formulate recommendations that could guide the continuing development of Acacia.

The report found that overall, the performance and service from Acacia Prison has been consistent with the original objectives, a positive culture had developed and the focus on rehabilitation and reparation was being upheld. The report recommends that strategies for improved interfaces and knowledge sharing between the public prisons and Acacia will enhance the integration of the two systems.

Albany Regional Prison

Albany Regional Prison is situated 408km from Perth. It is the only maximum-security prison outside the Perth metropolitan area. Albany Regional Prison holds sentenced male prisoners ranging from maximum to minimum security. Most are long-term prisoners and a wide variety of work options, educational and recreational activities are available to them.

Education opportunities include full-time study with courses in basic English and Maths (general education to tertiary level), art, music and computer tuition. Prisoners can choose to work in the metal, carpentry, textiles, life skills or furniture upholstery workshops, or as cooks, gardeners or cleaners.

The prison's modern medical centre is staffed by full-time registered nurses. During unlock hours, a doctor and a dentist are available for weekly consultations at the prison. Prisoners needing urgent specialist attention are taken to the local hospital. A psychologist, whose services are also utilised by Pardelup Prison Farm and the Albany Community-Based Services office, attends the prison five days a week and on an emergency basis.

Bandyup Women's Prison

Bandyup is the only Western Australian prison solely for women offenders. It was opened in 1970 to house prisoners from the female section at Fremantle Prison. Situated in the Swan Valley, near Guildford, Bandyup can house prisoners with maximum, medium and minimum-security ratings.

Self-care accommodation allows selected prisoners to cook and clean for themselves. However, they are still locked in cells within the unit each night. Self care includes a separate mother and baby unit, with facilities for up to four women to keep their young babies - generally until they are about 12 months old. Mothers can apply to the superintendent to keep their children beyond this stage. Mothers provide for all their children's needs, as they would do in a normal home environment. Parenting skills and child development programs are also available if required.

Prisoner health is catered for by a full-time nursing service, doctors visit twice a week and psychological services are also available. An experienced social worker also provides counselling services three days a week.

Prisoners are employed in the textile shop, where they make clothing for female and male prisoners, while others may do gardening, laundry, domestic and kitchen duties and general prison maintenance.

Bandyup also undertakes appropriate contracts for private industry and government agencies. Apprenticeships and vocational skills training is also available to prisoners.

The prison education centre was recently expanded and a full-time education officer is employed to co-ordinate educational programs and supervise visiting tutors. Courses range from basic English and mathematics to general education up to tertiary level. An increased emphasis is placed on employment-related training and self development.

Programs are also conducted to enable prisoners to address their offending behaviour. A variety of treatment programs are offered for substance use, anger management and development programs. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous regularly visit the prison.

Bunbury Regional Prison

Bunbury Regional Prison is located 180km from Perth. It can house prisoners in single cells, either in the main prison, which opened in 1971, or in the minimum-security block which was originally commissioned in 1982. As part of a major upgrade in 1992, self-care accommodation was added. Self care allows selected prisoners to do their own cooking and cleaning.

The prison also includes a short-term maximum-security section that is generally used for holding people remanded in custody to appear in court. The $14.8 million upgrade completed in 1992 incorporates a new high-security fence and a sophisticated electronic surveillance system. As a result, the prison's rating changed from minimum to medium.

New facilities also include a prisoner reception section, a prisoner visits area, an education centre, offender development areas, library, a program room, a prisoner canteen, and additional workshops.

The minimum-security section is located outside the perimeter fence. It has been transformed into a self-contained unit, completely separate from the main prison - with the exception of meals, which are supplied from the main kitchen.

Bunbury Prison offers education and employment facilities to prisoners. In the education centre, prisoners can tackle everything from basic adult literacy and numeracy to a wide range of TAFE studies. While in prison, offenders are expected to work or study. Opportunities for employment within the prison include cooking, domestic duties, carpentry, metalwork and mechanics, footwear manufacture, vegetable preparation, vocational skills and gardening/grounds maintenance.

A feature of the prison is its thriving and extremely productive market garden which supplies a large proportion of the fresh vegetables consumed in WA's prisons. It is the major employer of minimum-security prisoners.

The health of the prisoners is under the care of nursing staff, psychologists and doctors who visit the prison twice weekly, as well as a psychiatrist who attends fortnightly.

Casuarina Prison

Casuarina is set in 100 hectares of bushland about 30km south of Perth. It replaced the 130-year-old Fremantle Prison as the State's main maximum-security prison and was commissioned in 1991.

Custom-built for the "unit management" system of prison administration, most prisoners are housed in six semi-autonomous living units. The units are supervised by teams made up of a unit manager and unit officers.

Casuarina is surrounded by a range of state-of-the-art security devices, including a secure perimeter fence, electronic early detection and deterrent systems. The extensive security provisions allow a less restricted style of prisoner housing under the unit management model.

Prison facilities include an induction an orientation unit; library; chapel; education centre; programs centre; visitors reception facilities; facilities for the care and protection of vulnerable and at-risk prisoners; a state-of-the-art prison infirmary (mini hospital) staffed by medical professionals; and an administration building and staff amenities facilities.

The large industries area encompasses 11 workshops operating on a modern industrial concept. Designed to provide meaningful employment and assist in developing vocational skills, prisoners work in metal fabrication, cabinet making, boot and shoe manufacture, printing, baking and concrete products. A prisoner's day is routine - all prisoners are expected to work or undertake full-time education and may also take part in recreation and other activities and receive visits.

The education centre offers a range of courses from basic literacy and numeracy classes to further studies including intensive full-time TAFE and external university studies and academic bridging courses.

The prison infirmary is the biggest prison medical facility in the State and has a similar capacity to a small country hospital. Nursing staff provide 24-hour care and a doctor works full-time, along with psychologists employed by the Department. There is always a doctor on call after hours, with visiting specialists also available.

Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison

The Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison replaced the old Kalgoorlie Regional Prison in December 1980.

The old prison had been in use since 1968 and was too small. It was retained as an annexe to the new prison for three years, to hold maximum and medium-security prisoners on a short-term basis. It was closed down permanently with the opening of a maximum-security remand block at the new prison in 1983.

It is an integrated minimum-security facility and has a capacity to hold higher security prisoners for a very short term to facilitate visits or court appearances.

A variety of employment and educational activities are available to keep prisoners occupied during their period of incarceration. Employment activities include cabinet making; carpentry and woodworking; welding; minor construction work; prison maintenance; wood cutting; concrete products; small scale market gardening; horticulture; gardening; cooking; baking; meal preparation and presentation; general cleaning; community work; library assistant; and peer tutoring.

Education at the prison is overseen by an education officer with part-time tutors also providing support. Courses cover a range of educational requirements from basic numeracy/literacy to university. Instruction is also available in computer and information technology; sewing; employment studies; art and music. Courses are also provided specifically for Aboriginal prisoners and a host of providers are employed for these purposes.

Training is also conducted in a number of trades with accreditation on completion.

Programs are conducted to help prisoners understand issues that are relevant to their offending behaviours - and to provide them with the means to recognise and manage the situations that cause these behaviours. A dedicated program is also offered to help prisoners understand the deleterious effects that may result from using substances.

A range of passive and active recreational activities is provided to enhance health and wellbeing.

Prisoner health is catered for on a daily basis by qualified medical staff with a doctor visiting twice weekly. A local doctor's surgery and the regional hospital are available in case of emergencies.

Broome Regional Prison

Broome Regional Prison was proclaimed a prison in 1894 and operated for 48 years until 1942 when it reopened as a police lock-up. It reverted to a prison in 1945 and is now the only prison located in the Kimberley region.

The face of Broome Prison has changed over the years with the addition of cellblocks, a modern office, kitchen and laundry services.

Employment for prisoners ranges from supervised community work outside or within the prison, domestic duties, workshop maintenance or education. A full-time education officer offers education in basic English and arts and crafts and selected prisoners may also attend the local TAFE College for rural skills and construction training.

After daily work or education, prisoners have recreation and free time and can keep fit with basketball, table tennis or other passive recreation like reading. Some prisoners are taken to the town oval for football or the beach for swimming.

The majority of medical needs are handled by nursing staff on a daily basis. Anyone requiring specialist treatment is sent to the local district hospital and a psychiatrist attends on request. A psychologist is also available on referral through the nurse.

The Department's Alternatives to Violence Unit also runs the "Kimberley Offender Program" which is a combined anger management and substance abuse treatment course. The program is geared toward Aboriginal offenders and looks closely at the link between alcohol and violent offending as well as some sexual offending issues.

Greenough Regional Prison

Greenough Regional Prison is located 15km south-east of Geraldton in the suburb of Narngulu. It was originally designed as a low to medium-security prison in 1984. It was upgraded in 1990 to a medium-security prison with construction of a medium-security perimeter and the installation of close-circuit television surveillance cameras.

A further upgrade was completed in 1996 with the completion of a living unit with capacity for both self-care beds and minimal-care beds. Self-care allows selected prisoners to cook and clean for themselves.

Female prisoners are housed in a separate unit and two cells are specially designed for mothers and babies.

The prison has a vegetable garden which employs a large number of inmates. The prison has an education centre which offers a range of courses from basic literacy and numeracy through to TAFE, tertiary or specialist computer courses.

Vocational training is also available, with prisoners able to learn a selection of new skills including carpentry, welding and general maintenance skills.

Greenough Regional Prison provides comprehensive nursing coverage from 7.30am to 7.30pm, seven days a week. An on-call service is available with assistance from the regional hospital and the Aboriginal Medical Service. Doctors visit the prison twice weekly

The prison has the services of a psychologist on duty each working day and the prisoners also run a Peer Support Group with the assistance of a Prisoner Support Officer.

Hakea Prison

Hakea Prison is the result of a $26m amalgamation of the former Canning Vale Prison and the CW Campbell Remand Centre. Situated about 27km south of Perth, it is now the State's dedicated remand receive and assessment centre.

The standardised reception and orientation process aims to reduce stress for new arrivals, while also enabling an integrated comprehensive assessment process to be tailor-made for all prisoners within the system.

A 15-bed crisis care facility serves the needs of a small group of acute and at times chronic risk offenders who require specialised treatment and support interventions.

A new visits facility provides a family-friendly setting where offenders can enjoy contact time with their families and other visitors within a secure environment.

Prisoners are employed in the large, modern laundry, or in work areas such as carpentry, metal trades, spray painting, concrete products, auto mechanics, upholstery, food preparation, domestic duties, plus maintenance and garden work around the prison. Trade training is also available, and new kitchen facilities started operating in 1994.

The prison's education centre, part of extensions in 1988, can provide up to 30 prison students with full-time education. Studies range from basic literacy training through to tertiary courses, as well as art and crafts, computer studies, Aboriginal issues and a variety of TAFE courses. The centre also provides an education service for up to 40 part-time students and offers TAFE bridging certificates for Aboriginal students.

Hakea also hosts the State's first self-care block designed principally for long-term prisoners. Self care allows selected prisoners to cook and clean for themselves. Any prisoner can progress to unit 5 (the self-care block) after a three-month period free of prison charges.

A doctor attends the prison five half days a week and also provides an on-call service. A visiting psychiatric consultant attends weekly, and there is a visiting service for dental and optical needs. The medical centre is serviced by one senior nurse, 10 hospital officers and a medical records officer, providing 24-hour service. Further support is provided by the Prison Coucelling Service, with staff on duty five days a week and an on-call system operating.

Karnet Prison

Karnet Prison Farm plays a vital role in the WA prison system, providing work for male, minimum-security prisoners and food for the entire prison system.

Set on 370 hectares of hilly country in the Keysbrook State Forest, 73km south of Perth, Karnet is one of three prison farms in Western Australia.

Karnet produces an estimated $2 million worth of primary products annually. Its key industries include the abattoir - thought to be the only one of its kind in Australia - its modern dairy and poultry shed. Karnet also supplies vegetables from its market garden and has developed a hydroponics section and worm farming industry.

Prisoners either work or study and are employed doing general farm and dairy work, or in the abattoir - slaughtering, butchering and manufacturing smallgoods.

Trade training and apprenticeships are also available in butchery, slaughtering, smallgoods manufacture, motor mechanics and metalwork. A part-time education officer also facilitates courses ranging from basic literacy to tertiary subjects, computers and vocational and personal development.

Offenders also participate in a bicycle workshop that manufactures bikes for sale and also produces specially made bikes and trikes for the handicapped. There is also accreditation - through TAFE - for prisoners in bicycle maintenance. Karnet offenders also do work in the local community and are involved in upgrading the Bibbilmun track, other walk trails and maintenance work in local parks.

A full-time nursing sister works at the prison and a doctor visits twice a week to tend to prisoners' medical needs. The Department also employs visiting psychologists. A range of treatment courses is available at the prison including a pre-release Sex Offender Treatment Program and courses dealing with anger management and substance abuse.

Nyandi Prison

Nyandi Prison, an annex of Bandyup, received its first intake of prisoners from the maximum-security prison in December 1998, and in doing so, became Western Australia's first minimum-security prison for women.

The prison - housed in the former Nyandi Detention Centre for girls in Bentley - was opened to relieve critical overcrowding at Bandyup.

Plans to expand Nyandi Prison were announced by Minister for Justice Jim McGinty in September 2001. The expansion project will address the need for additional accommodation and appropriate rehabilitation opportunities for more female minimum-security prisoners.

Nyandi will expand into the neighbouring site, currently occupied by the disused Longmore Detention Centre.

In August 2001, Mr McGinty visited several innovative and successful low-security women's prisons overseas. He said it had made him determined to have a facility in WA that recognised the special needs of low-security women.

Mr McGinty said he wanted to expand on the range of pre-release programs and significant work prisoners from Nyandi were undertaking in the community.

Community work projects are currently undertaken from the prison, with inmates completing a range of work in the community. They are otherwise employed in the prison completing general duties, cooking, cleaning, gardening and laundry.

Offenders can participate in self-development pre-release programs that include subjects on parole, employment, relationships, parenting, agency support and accommodation, health, transition and legal matters. At the completion of each, they receive an accredited certificate.

The expansion will enable more women to get out into the community on various projects. These community projects help offenders to reintegrate by building the self-esteem necessary to adjust to release and secure work.

Nyandi is equipped with a large gym, activity rooms, an art room, hair dressing salon, a swimming pool, a range of recreation activities and an education centre. The wings have been set up in a self-care type facility where the women prepare their own breakfast and tidy their rooms before being on muster at 8.30am. Lunch and dinner are in the communal dining room and in the evening, although the doors to the wings are locked, the cells are not and the women are allowed in the recreation area.

The prison has a mother and baby unit. Female prisoners can apply to have their babies (aged up to 12 months) with them. It also has a small self-care facility where children (over 12 months) can visit their mother overnight.

A nurse attends the prison for six hours Monday to Friday and for three hours Saturday and Sunday to cater for prisoner health. Psychologists and social workers from Bandyup visit the complex as required.

Roebourne Prison

Roebourne Regional Prison, located 7km from the town of Roebourne, is a medium-security prison which houses male and female prisoners in single, two, four and six-bed cells.

All prisoners are required to work or study. Trade and workshop skills are an important part of the vocational training available. The education curriculum aims to provide prisoners with skills which will help them get a job when released. Courses include motor mechanics; painting; plumbing; carpentry; household work and garden management. In addition, training in the hospitality, tourism and catering areas is also offered.

Running parallel to the vocational training are courses on first aid, alcohol and drug education, alternatives to violence and hygiene.

The prison has a full-time education officer who is assisted by tutors offering full-time education from basic literacy and numeracy to English and mathematics, computers, art and crafts and higher education.

Wooroloo Prison Farm

Wooroloo Prison Farm holds a unique place in the WA prison system. It was taken over as a minimum-security prison in 1972, with an arrangement that the prison would continue to offer the use of its amenities to the local community.

The prison is 55km east of Perth and its special relationship with the community continues today, with locals utilising some of the prison's sporting facilities - particularly the swimming pool. The social club also services the local community.

A medical facility provides medical services to the prison from 7am until 7pm.

In the main, the prison farm breeds and fattens sheep and cattle to provide food for the prison system. Prisoners are employed in carpentry, painting, mechanical engineering, cooking, gardening, domestic duties, farm work and in a range of education and skills development training programs.

Wooroloo prisoners also work in the local community and are involved in reforestation programs, CALM programs, assisting local voluntary organisations, schools and kindergartens and general community projects.

Up to 12 prisoners from Wooroloo are based at the Kellerberrin work camp.

Prisoners are able to undertake part and full-time education - in particular English, mathematics, art and Aboriginal issues courses.

Riverbank Prison

This prison handles categories prisoners with special needs, particularly those with intellectual and physical handicaps and those who are emotionally vulnerable or require special protection.

Pardelup Prison

This prison generally houses prisoners pre-release or those serving very short sentences.

C.W. Campbell Remand Centre

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Thanks to the Department of Justice Western Australia for this information and photographs.