We found that:
- Cost cutting measures had impacted on operations and services, with critical services not meeting demand. This included:
- A large backlog in Departmental assessments of prisoners’ treatment needs
- Some prisoners reaching their parole date without even having been assessed
- Some being assessed as needing non-existent programs
- Many prisoners unable to access programs before their parole date
- The prison had an inadequate initial allocation of funds to pay for agreed staff numbers
- Staff/management relations were poor
- Staff/prisoner relations had deteriorated, creating safety and security risks
- Staff training rates were very good
- New roofs and a new external fence had improved the basic prison infrastructure
- Too many prison facilities (including visits and men’s education and health) were too small to meet demand and need
- There were some excellent work and training opportunities, however there were not enough for the number of prisoners being held
- Education services were providing a high quality service to prisoners
- The Department should provide a strategic plan for the future of the prison focussing on the delivery of services to its key client of Aboriginal prisoners from the region
A quarter of Greenough’s prisoners are women. We found that:
- The overall quality of services and amenity of the women’s precinct at Greenough had continued to improve
- They had good access to support, education, and personal development
- They had too little access to employment, recreation, and out of prison activities
- Women and men had too few opportunities for positive social contact and were therefore communicating in illicit and negative ways