73: Report of an Announced Inspection of Bandyup Women’s Prison

Bandyup Women’s Prison is the only female prison in Western Australia that caters for all security classifications. It acts as a receival, remand, assessment, and sentenced prisoner facility. As the only maximum security prison for women in the state, Bandyup accommodates prisoners from all the regions assessed as maximum security. The prison also accommodates a …

This report of an announced inspection of Bandyup contains many more recommendations (33) than other recent reports. There are two main reasons for this.  First, Bandyup is a very complex multi-purpose prison, catering for a particularly complex group of prisoners. Secondly, the 2005 and 2008 inspections noted a marked improvement at Bandyup since 2002. But …

This 2011 inspection of Bandyup found that while there were some encouraging findings, progress had stalled in many key areas. Positive findings included: • the commissioning of the new ‘village’ which included an increase in capacity for women with resident children; • the increased availability of offender treatment programs; • the orientation unit and the involvement of peer …

Recommendation 1 Cease the practice of compelling women to sleep on floors. Recommendation 2 As part of Bandyup’s review of its hierarchical system of prisoner management, develop and implement a strategy which results in Aboriginal women being proportionately represented in the more desirable accommodation areas of the women’s estate. Recommendation 3 Invest in contemporary accommodation …