Prisoners in Western Australia are living in ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading’ conditions, report warns

Inmates in Western Australia are sleeping on mattresses on the floor of overcrowded cells and subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading” conditions, prompting the jails watchdog to call for urgent reform.

Most of WA’s correctional facilities are in crisis, with an increased level of harm observed across the system, the state’s inspector of custodial services, Eamon Ryan, said in a report tabled in parliament on Tuesday.

There was a potentially serious risk to the security, control, safety, care and welfare of prisoners in the Hakea, Melaleuca and Casuarina facilities, he said.

“This is no longer a problem confined to a single facility – it reflects a systemic failure across multiple prisons,” Ryan said.

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Conditions pose a serious risk to the safety and wellbeing of prisoners and staff, and in some cases may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the report said.

“The system is operating beyond its capacity, with overcrowding, workforce pressures and restrictive regimes now embedded as the norm,” Ryan said.

WA’s adult prisons were operating in a sustained state of unsafe failure, driven by unprecedented growth in prisoner numbers – 37% over three years – and chronic workforce instability that had outpaced the system’s capacity to respond, the report said.

Widespread overcrowding, including triple-bunking and prisoners sleeping on mattresses on the floor, has eroded infrastructure resilience to the point the system is unable to safely absorb or respond to major incidents. In many cases, the report noted, this means inmates are sleeping next to the cell’s shared toilet.

One inmate at Hakea, quoted in the report, said: “So many cockroaches in cell. No laundry. No use of phones. Toilets are broken. No pillow. It’s filthy.”

A staff member at Casuarina, also quoted in the report, said low staffing meant “staff safety is beyond compromised”.

Chronic staff shortfalls have triggered routine lockdowns to maintain control, significantly reduced time out of cell, cancelled family contact and limited access to basic services, leading to the routine denial of fundamental entitlements, the report said.

“I’ve seen my kids 3 times since November, they book every week without fail, all visits are cancelled,” a woman incarcerated in Melaleuca said, in a comment included in the report. Another said: “We get locked in too much no fresh water haven’t seen my family in 4 week due to cancelled visits makes my mental health shit.”

Yet another woman at Melaleuca described high levels of mental distress. Hakea, Casuarina and Melaleuca accounted for 60% of all self-harm incidents in the year to January 2026, the report said, reflecting an upward trend.