Contact with and connection to family and friends are key factors to maintaining the wellbeing of people in custody and their rehabilitation prospects. In this Office’s 2018 review examining this contact, we found the Department of Justice was struggling to meet its legislative and policy requirements for family and social visits, due to overcrowding within …
The Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services has released its Annual Report 2023-24. It reflects the challenging year faced by prisons and youth detention in Western Australia over the past 12 months. Inspector Eamon Ryan said: In 2023-24, our reports and monitoring activities have highlighted consistent findings that the custodial system has struggled to …
People in custody should be provided the opportunity to address their primary health, mental health, and social care needs through access to appropriate services. They must also be supported to change their behaviours and attitudes through tailored programs and services which address their needs and support desistence. These services and supports are delivered by non-custodial …
The Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services (WA) has joined other members of the Australian National Preventive Network (NPM) in a joint statement on the reintroduction of spit hoods for children in the Northern Territory. The statement calls on the NT Government to listen to informed local NT voices, and for all Australian governments to …
The Office was pleased to contribute and be signatory to the Australian National Preventive Mechanism’s (NPM) submission to the Senate inquiry examining the country’s youth justice and incarceration system. The Submission makes six recommendations to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee and urges careful consideration of the findings and recommendation made by the National …
Today the Office commenced its announced inspection of Acacia Prison. It’s our first inspection of Acacia since the February 2022 riot. We will be onsite looking at innovation and recovery since that time using our Revised Code of Inspection Standards for Adult Custodial Services. You can read the Revised Standards here. Click here to read …
The Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services has made a submission to the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, for the inquiry examining Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system. The short submission focusses on four of the six Terms of Reference: the outcomes and impacts of youth incarceration in jurisdictions across Australia …
The Australian National Preventive Mechanism has made a shadow submission to the Committee Against Torture to support its consideration of Australia’s state party follow-up submission under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The submission focuses on a range of recent developments since the Committee’s sixth periodic review …
This is the first Annual Report of the Australian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and covers the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. It provides a snapshot of how OPCAT has been implemented in Australia. It includes discussion of the following common themes of collective concern that have been identified by members of the …
The Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services is signatory to a joint statement by the Australian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) expressing concern and disappointment in the recently announced 2024-25 federal budget which did not contain more funding to support NPMs so they can discharge their full mandate under the UN Optional Protocol to the …
