- This inspection found that Bunbury was a well-performing prison where competent local management and staff teams were providing a generally safe, therapeutic, and productive environment.
- The prison excelled in staff-prisoner relations, and there were good mechanisms ensuring that prisoners were able to have a voice in regards to operations, services, and conditions at Bunbury.
- The security team performed well despite facing significant infrastructure issues.
- The prison had a committed and competent health team.
- The peer support system and guidance for Aboriginal prisoners was strong, based in part on the considerable experience of the Prison Support Officer and the Aboriginal Visitor Service visitors.
- Program provision, one of the prison’s key services, continued to be well-provided, as were counselling services. Bunbury’s chaplains also continued to provide highly valued spiritual support, mentoring, and voluntary programs.
- Bunbury had a competent management team who demonstrated good strategic planning in resource-limited conditions.
- Industries and gardens were highly productive, and the prison’s finances were very well managed. Some areas of industries excelled in the provision of employment-relevant training.
- A dedicated re-entry manager and team cooperated well with the re-entry services provider (AccordWest) to support prisoners’ education and training, employment, life skills and transitional needs.
- Despite these strengths and achievements, Bunbury was however, hampered by:
- inhumane conditions in some of the prisoner accommodation, coupled with an inability to properly manage different groups;
- inadequate strategies for reducing prisoners’ access to and use of illicit substances;
- a need to improve substantive equality for Aboriginal prisoners (despite some good practices);
- a lack of resocialisation opportunities for long sentence prisoners;
- some issues with respect to staff culture and morale;
- an understaffed prison management team; and
- a need for greater Departmental strategic direction and support for the Pre-Release Unit (PRU), reintegration services, and Integrated Offender Management.