WA rakes in billions for budget surplus but cannot spare a dollar for aircons in nation’s hottest prison
Originally published on WA Today written by Peter de Kruijff
Unionised construction workers in Western Australia can down tools when temperatures reach 37.5 degrees but if you are locked up in a Roebourne prison that’s only two degrees cooler, even though it’s nighttime, then you just have to tough it out for the 12.5 hours until your cell door opens in the morning.
It’s a situation that has been allowed to go on for more than two decades as the state government refuses to commit to either building a new prison in the Pilbara or spending $2.4 million on putting airconditioners into the cells of low and medium-security prisoners.
The most recent outcry from the Aboriginal Legal Service WA and Human Rights Watch about the appalling prison conditions was prompted by a 50.5-degree day in Roebourne on Thursday which tied for the equal highest temperature ever recorded in this country.
This brings memories of the tragic death in the Goldfields of Ngaanyatjarra elder Mr Ward in 2008.
He died of heat stroke in the back of a prison transport, during a four-hour drive with the air temperature in the prisoner pod reaching 47 degrees and the metal seat, walls and floor 56 degrees.
Usually coverage on the prison temperature issue only comes up every two or four years when the prison watchdog releases its regular inspection reports that always include a few paragraphs and recommendations around the oppressive heat in the facility.
The typical pattern which follows is the Department of Justice decides it does not want to spend the money and the issue goes dormant for another few years until the minimal regional coverage on the matter crops up again with another Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services inspection.
The Aboriginal Legal Service WA has called out the department’s approach as racially discriminatory and stated the human rights issue would have been resolved if the majority of prisoners were not Aboriginal.
In Roebourne prison 80-90 per cent of the population are Aboriginal people, mostly from the Pilbara region.
Decrepit prisons are not out of the ordinary for the north-west with the Broome remand facility another publicly owned building that should be closed down, especially after two prison escapes including one where a prisoner burned down part of a historic primary school during their flight for freedom.
The state government had even planned to close Broome prison down but is now intent on building a replacement.
Such intent has not been shown for Roebourne which the officers in charge recommended in 2005 needed to be replaced within 10 years. That was 17 years ago.
The government would also be reluctant to close down Roebourne prison without a replacement lest the department create more stress for the local Aboriginal prison population by taking them further away from country.
A new prison for the Pilbara does not even seem to have been whispered about, however, so with no plans in place what is the problem with spending $2.4 million to ensure people can finish their jail terms with dignity?
The $5.8 billion WA budget surplus last year is often trotted out as the solution to many situations of underfunding or public servant wage disputes in the state.
If anything, though, that figure more shockingly represents how WA has got through this COVID-19 pandemic and much of its recent history on the back of the royalties from the iron ore pulled from the traditional Pilbara lands of the many of the men and women locked up in Roebourne prison.
It’s a sad indictment that this is an issue in the first place. It’s even worse that the government will not resolve it.
Last year the Department of Justice director general Adam Tomison spent a night behind bars at Casuarina Prison as part of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout as a way to support homeless people sleeping rough.
Maybe this summer he can take the Premier, who was “unaware of the cooling issues” in the prison, for a trip to the Pilbara and bunk down for a night in a Roebourne cell to support the prisoners – who are also sleeping pretty rough.
WA rakes in billions for budget surplus but cannot spare a dollar for aircons in nation’s hottest prison
Originally published on WA Today written by Peter de Kruijff
Unionised construction workers in Western Australia can down tools when temperatures reach 37.5 degrees but if you are locked up in a Roebourne prison that’s only two degrees cooler, even though it’s nighttime, then you just have to tough it out for the 12.5 hours until your cell door opens in the morning.
It’s a situation that has been allowed to go on for more than two decades as the state government refuses to commit to either building a new prison in the Pilbara or spending $2.4 million on putting airconditioners into the cells of low and medium-security prisoners.
The most recent outcry from the Aboriginal Legal Service WA and Human Rights Watch about the appalling prison conditions was prompted by a 50.5-degree day in Roebourne on Thursday which tied for the equal highest temperature ever recorded in this country.
This brings memories of the tragic death in the Goldfields of Ngaanyatjarra elder Mr Ward in 2008.
He died of heat stroke in the back of a prison transport, during a four-hour drive with the air temperature in the prisoner pod reaching 47 degrees and the metal seat, walls and floor 56 degrees.
Usually coverage on the prison temperature issue only comes up every two or four years when the prison watchdog releases its regular inspection reports that always include a few paragraphs and recommendations around the oppressive heat in the facility.
The typical pattern which follows is the Department of Justice decides it does not want to spend the money and the issue goes dormant for another few years until the minimal regional coverage on the matter crops up again with another Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services inspection.
The Aboriginal Legal Service WA has called out the department’s approach as racially discriminatory and stated the human rights issue would have been resolved if the majority of prisoners were not Aboriginal.
In Roebourne prison 80-90 per cent of the population are Aboriginal people, mostly from the Pilbara region.
Decrepit prisons are not out of the ordinary for the north-west with the Broome remand facility another publicly owned building that should be closed down, especially after two prison escapes including one where a prisoner burned down part of a historic primary school during their flight for freedom.
The state government had even planned to close Broome prison down but is now intent on building a replacement.
Such intent has not been shown for Roebourne which the officers in charge recommended in 2005 needed to be replaced within 10 years. That was 17 years ago.
The government would also be reluctant to close down Roebourne prison without a replacement lest the department create more stress for the local Aboriginal prison population by taking them further away from country.
A new prison for the Pilbara does not even seem to have been whispered about, however, so with no plans in place what is the problem with spending $2.4 million to ensure people can finish their jail terms with dignity?
The $5.8 billion WA budget surplus last year is often trotted out as the solution to many situations of underfunding or public servant wage disputes in the state.
If anything, though, that figure more shockingly represents how WA has got through this COVID-19 pandemic and much of its recent history on the back of the royalties from the iron ore pulled from the traditional Pilbara lands of the many of the men and women locked up in Roebourne prison.
It’s a sad indictment that this is an issue in the first place. It’s even worse that the government will not resolve it.
Last year the Department of Justice director general Adam Tomison spent a night behind bars at Casuarina Prison as part of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout as a way to support homeless people sleeping rough.
Maybe this summer he can take the Premier, who was “unaware of the cooling issues” in the prison, for a trip to the Pilbara and bunk down for a night in a Roebourne cell to support the prisoners – who are also sleeping pretty rough.
