- Additional infrastructure had created more medium- and minimum-security beds
- A new 160 bed medium-security unit had been built within the prison perimeter; and an old minimum-security unit had re-opened for 37 minimum-security prisoners
- The management team was stable, experienced, and had grown to manage the additional prisoners
- The team provided good leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic
- The prison would benefit from more Aboriginal staff
- The security team had also been bolstered with additional staff and both staff and prisoners felt safe
- New processes had been implemented, such as split recreation times, to better manage the larger cohorts of prisoners
- The expansion project had been managed well, but the defects in the new accommodation unit were a big risk for the prison
- The expansion project excluded key aspects of prison operations like the health and administration centres
- And other parts of the expansion project were poorly developed and implemented like the dining rooms in Unit 2 which were too small
- Prisoners rated their quality of life at Bunbury highly
- Aboriginal prisoners were disadvantaged – they were under-represented at the higher end of prison life (eg. privileged accommodation and regimes) and over-represented at the lower end (eg. less meaningful employment)
- Confidence in the effectiveness of the Aboriginal Services’ Committee had diminished
- The relationship with education service providers was strained and student contact hours were significantly under-utilised
- Reintegration services were doing well with a very small team which was in need of additional resources