WA prisons are pressure cookers set to explode after a recent riot saw some inmates kept in their cells for seven days straight in stinking clothes, while others were allowed out for less than an hour a day during COVID-19 outbreaks, staff and family members have told the ABC.
A riot at privately-run Acacia on February 27 saw around 100 inmates refuse to follow directions, climbing on the roof and setting fire to residential blocks and an industrial work area, causing extensive damage.
Three days beforehand, Acacia recorded its first cases of COVID in inmates at the prison.
Family members of prisoners at the facility, which is operated by multinational services provider Serco, have told the ABC the riots began in part because inmates were denied video call "visits" with family members.
The prison officers' union said staffing had been too short to escort prisoners to the video call area and other facilities at Acacia.
One woman, who asked not to be named, told the ABC her partner was kept in his cell for seven days following the riot despite not being involved, although he was in the block where it took place.
She said people were put into a neighbouring block and kept in extended lockdown, with overcrowding meaning people were sleeping on the floor.
She said he could not change his clothes and the stench inside the block had become extreme.
The woman was also concerned about COVID transmission as there was no airflow and prisoners were in close proximity.
Inmates trying to draw attention to conditions in prison
The mother of another inmate, who also asked not to be named over fears of reprisals against her son, said the riot was not an attempt by prisoners to escape, but rather to shed light on conditions at the facility.
She said "everyone paid" following the riot, when everything was locked down.
The Department of Corrections said it had to find alternative accommodation for 200 prisoners after the disturbance, which caused extensive damage to infrastructure, and some prisoners had to temporarily sleep on mattresses.
"Most Mike Block prisoners, who actively tried to participate in the disturbance, were confined to cells for six or seven days afterwards, during which high-risk prisoners were removed from the site," the statement said.
The department said that block was now unlocked to common areas daily but there were restrictions to yard access.
"This is a risk-based decision and also limits potential transmission of COVID between units," the statement said.
"E-visits at the prison have resumed and prisoner phone calls have been re-established."
COVID-affected prisoners put in punishment cells
The department confirmed prisoners were put in the detention unit, also known as "punishment cells" at Acacia, to isolate if they were positive or close contacts.
"Most prisoners in COVID isolation at Acacia did so in a standard accommodation block," the statement said.
"Out of necessity, due to the limited accommodation options post-disturbance, some prisoners had to isolate in the Detention Unit.
COVID-positive prisoners were restricted to their cells while isolated prisoners had access to the common areas and telephones.
"Isolation cells have TVs, and isolating prisoners were provided with recreational items from their normal cells for the duration of their isolation," the statement said.
Rolling lockdowns amid COVID outbreaks
In Hakea, a maximum security facility, a riot broke out on March 16 with about half a dozen inmates climbing onto the roof.
Hakea, which is an older prison, is one of the worst-hit in the current COVID outbreak and most cells do not contain ablution facilities at the ageing facility.
As of Friday last week, there were 222 COVID-positive detainees and 899 deemed close contacts, the majority of which were in Hakea and the next door Melaleuca Women's Prison.
Across all prisons, there were 67 confirmed COVID cases in staff, with a further 99 custodial staff in isolation.
Vaccination rates in WA prisons have lagged behind the general population.
As at March 23, 87.4 per cent of WA prisoners and detainees had received at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose and 74 per cent were double-jabbed.
Food 'thrown on floor' of lockdown cell
The mother of a man remanded at Hakea, which also accommodates prisoners awaiting trial, told the ABC her son had been locked down on-and-off for days at a time for three weeks, with inmates spending 23 hours in their cells.
They were allowed out for an hour to eat and wash, and they get three-minute phone calls if they can make it to the head of the line before they must return to their cell, she said.
The woman said prisoners usually cook and serve the food in Hakea but since the lockdown, guards must bring it to the cells.
"He said it's just like being in Bali."
The ABC was unable to independently verify this claim, while the prison officer's union denied any of its members would act in this fashion.
The Department said it was not aware of any instances where prisoners' food was “thrown on the floor”.
"Food for some COVID-positive and isolating close-contact prisoners is being delivered through waist height hatches in cell doors," the department said.
'Tempers are flaring'
The woman said her son believed there was more trouble coming.
"Tempers are flaring ... everybody's reaching the end of their tether," she said.
"Being in prison is one thing, but these men aren't even convicted yet, they're just waiting for the court date."
Some of the prisoners who were seen as instigators of the riot at Acacia were transferred to Hakea.
Last week a young man, who advocates say had been transferred and placed in an isolation cell, took his own life.
The department said Hakea had been in "varying degrees of restricted regimes since early March" to assist with COVID management, with the majority of units operating under a normal regime.
"The prison provides the maximum available time out of cell to enable prisoners access to ablutions, social visits, phone calls and other recreational activities," the department said.
"Due to positive case and close contact isolation requirements and the flow-on reduction of staff numbers, there have been occasions when recreation and education services have not been available to prisoners."
Women's prison locked down for 10 days straight
The ABC was told Melaleuca, WA's maximum security prison for women, was in lockdown for 10 days straight.
The department confirmed this was the case, saying it was necessitated by dozens of prisoners across the facility testing positive to COVID or being classed as close contacts.
"Prisoners were allowed out of their cells once a day where they could make phone calls," the department said.
"Prisoners have showers and toilets in their cells.
"Prisoners are managed in the least restrictive regime possible, with isolation and intake prisoners located in one unit."
Staff attacked, bashed with chair in recent days
The WA Prison officer's union secretary, Andy Smith, said prison officers were frequently being attacked as tensions heighten, with two guards from WA's maximum-security prison Casuarina attacked last week.
One officer is understood to have been smashed over the head with a chair during the incident.
Mr Smith said prisons were regularly operating with 30 to 60 staff less than the full complement, and that meant whole units had to be locked down.
He said the union was finally due to meet with the department of corrective services last week after almost two years of raising the alarm on staff shortages.
"We know the outcome of that is going to be probably more depressing and frightening for both the department and for government than even they foresee," Mr Smith said.
"We have an attrition rate now that is three times what it was a year and a half ago because prison officers do not feel safe in the job and the conditions being whittled away makes it really not worth being in in the job."
Mr Smith said the attrition rate was creating a "tinderbox" environment in prisons.
"We're unable to provide unlock hours, we're unable to provide programs and visits or employment.
"It's blatantly obvious we're creating an unsafe environment."
Prisons not at capacity: Department
The department said in the 12 months to February 2022 an average of 15.7 officers left every month, compared with an average of 10 officers per month in the previous 12 months.
It said the prisoner population was 24 per cent lower than capacity and the staff vacancy rate approximately six to seven per cent, which was seen as "reasonable and manageable".
The department measures prison capacity differently to the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services (OICS), which measures the design capacity of prisons.
The latest review conducted by the office, in 2016, found WA's prison system was overcrowded.
The Department of Corrective Services meanwhile defines "operational capacity" as the number of prisoners that can be accommodated safely in a facility, taking into account available beds.
This allows the department to "double-bunk" prison cells but still maintain it is within operational capacity parametres.
The OICS also found just 32 per cent of cells meet national standards for minimum size in Western Australia.
Lockdowns are breaking people, advocate says
National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project director Megan Krakouer has worked in Acacia as part of a prison visits program.
She is deeply disturbed by the lockdowns, which she described as draconian.
"There are grave concerns about people's mental health conditions and the psychological treatment that they're receiving as a result of being in Acacia Prison," Ms Krakouer said.
"It impacts on their psychological condition to the point where it breaks them.
"It breaks their heart, it breaks their souls and then compound this with their family concerns and their worries."
Ms Krakouer said this should not be happening in an Australian prison system, which she should be about rehabilitation.
Ms Krakouer is pushing for prisoners to have access to family and community support workers reinstated, and warns there will be a rise in self-harm if conditions are not improved.
