Parole review boards are holding mentally ill and juvenile prisoners in custody for "considerable" lengths of time because they cannot be released if they are homeless, according to a strongly worded and unusually detailed public document from the outgoing chair of the Prisoners Review Board.
In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into funding for homelessness in WA, Allan Fenbury wrote that inmates who should otherwise have been released on parole were being held in custody due to a shortage of suitable accommodation in the community.
One juvenile inmate spent 122 days in custody last year when they could have been released if they had had a place to stay, the document said.
"The board regularly struggles with this issue when a prisoner, in essence, ticks all the other boxes for suitability for release," Mr Fenbury wrote.
"I do not feel this is acceptable that prisoners are denied an opportunity for supervised release when, on many occasions, this is not a factor within their control."
The concerns were expressed on behalf of the Prisoners Review Board, the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board (MIARB), and the Supervised Release Review Board.
Some held despite no crime
Some of the people who could not be released had not been found guilty of any crime.
"Many accused persons have spent a considerable amount of time in custody, for offences they have been acquitted of by reason of unsoundness of mind, because the [MIARB] has no suitable options in the community to release them," Mr Fenbury wrote.
There were also "very concerning" delays in finding accommodation for young people, he said.
Mr Fenbury, a former judge, wrote the submission by invitation in December last year.
He is leaving the role of chairman at the end of this week when he will be replaced by another former judge, Kevin Sleight.
As part of his submission to the homelessness inquiry, Mr Fenbury provided 13 anonymous case studies involving young people who were held in custody, in some cases for months, despite being otherwise approved for release.
"Young Aboriginal persons are most certainly over-represented in homelessness and/or lack of suitable supported accommodation," he said.
'Appalling' system failure, says professor
WA is grappling with a rental crisis, as the rising cost of housing and low vacancy rates have left some individuals homeless and forced others to live in holiday parks.
In October last year, the average waiting time for public housing was 105 weeks.
Lisa Wood, a professor at the Institute of Health Research at the University of Notre Dame, said the fact that people were having to stay in jail was an "appalling" system failure.
"I think it just further widens the gap between the haves and have-nots in our society," Dr Wood said.
While Dr Wood said she was not making excuses for people who had committed crimes, she said police data showed the majority of inmates at risk of homelessness had not been imprisoned for serious crimes.
She was pleased that the Prisoners Review Board had written about the issue in its submission to the inquiry.
Economic cost
Through her research on homelessness and health, she has interviewed people in jail and said they often experienced strong feelings of hope — along with anxiety — about meeting the requirements to be granted parole.
"There's a huge focus on being able to get parole and working towards that and to have those hopes dashed because you have nowhere to stay must be heartbreaking," Dr Wood said.
She said there was also an economic cost to the problem, noting that the cost of housing people in jail was significantly higher than the cost of most rents.
The Prisoners Review Board did not respond to ABC's requests for an interview.
