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A man has died at Hakea Prison in what authorities have determined are not under suspicious circumstances amid growing concerns that conditions at the facility are at crisis point.
The Department of Justice said the 30-year-old Aboriginal man was found unresponsive just before 4pm on Thursday.
Prisoners have been locked in their cells and will not be allowed visitors.Credit: Fairfax
“Staff including medical officers provided first aid to the prisoner until St John WA paramedics
arrived,” a statement released on Saturday said.
“Preliminary reports indicate that there were no suspicious circumstances.
A report will be prepared for the coroner which is mandatory when there is a death in custody.
The death comes just days after a District Court judge took the unusual step of speaking out about the conditions at the facility which she described as “dangerously unstable”.
Judge Linda Black also used the prison’s “intolerable” conditions as a reason to reduce one man’s prison sentence as he had been held there for a number of years on remand.
“There’s severe overcrowding in the cells with population regularly exceeding official capacity,” she said.
“This has led to up to 80 men sleeping on mattresses on cell floors near the toilets, creating cramped, unhygienic and undignified conditions, and as this court has experienced, injuries to prisoners who are stepped on, kicked or otherwise hurt during the time that they’re on the floor.
“The capacity to see lawyers, family and friends has been close to non-existent.”
Responding to Black’s comments, Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia said: “Judges are independent and make their own decisions, but we make no apologies for locking up drug traffickers.”
Inside one of the cells at Hakea Prison.Credit: Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services
In June the Justice Department told the ABC there had been 18 deaths in custody in the last year.
A month later another damning report by the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services said conditions at Hakea had “slightly improved but remained entirely unacceptable”.
“The prison system is operating beyond its capacity, placing immense strain on staff, infrastructure, and prisoner welfare,” Inspector Eamon Ryan said.
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“These pressures are undermining the effectiveness of prison operations and having a significant toll on both staff wellbeing and the humane treatment of prisoners.
“Ultimately, for the majority of adult prisoners effective rehabilitation is simply not happening.”
Ryan recommended the government initiate a formal inquiry into the operation of Hakea to identify practical solutions.
More than $4 million has been allocated in the state budget for custodial infrastructure planning, while this masthead understands the Department of Justice has boosted prison officer recruitment.
The government also established the Hakea Safer Management Taskforce in response to an earlier inspection of the prison by Ryan.
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