The State Government today announced a further 640 beds to be added to the prison system by mid next year.

Corrective Services Minister Christian Porter said the beds would be added as part of additional accommodation units at Casuarina, Albany and Greenough and were above and beyond the 600 beds promised in the May State Budget.

“The Government is already well on track to completing the 600 beds promised in the Budget, with 353 (as at October 20) currently in operation,” Mr Porter said.

“What this means is that by mid next year, the Liberal-National Government will have added more than 1,200 additional beds to Western Australia’s prison system.”

The Minister said the additional accommodation units were an innovative and immediate solution to help ease overcrowding in WA in the short term.

“The temporary units will consist of 320 cells, double-bunked and have a lifespan of about 10 years.

“Importantly, the construction of the units will not require additional Government funding.”

Mr Porter said the Government was able to find a $60million saving in the cost of expanding Acacia prison and those funds could now be used to significantly and efficiently expand the prison system throughout metropolitan and regional WA.

A significant portion of the savings would go towards recruiting more prison officers as well as creating the additional beds:

·                $48million for the additional accommodation units, including all necessary amenities, power, water, waste and security

·                $11.25million to recruit and train additional prison officers

·                $750,000 to expand capacity at the Corrective Services Training Academy.

“It’s an unfortunate fact that the previous Labor Government basically ignored our prisons and the people in them for its entire eight years in government,” the Minister said.

“They focused on ways to keep offenders out of jail and on our streets and ignored the need for additional infrastructure.

“That strategy clearly failed the community and the corrective services system.

“The Liberal-National Government has acted decisively and quickly to build additional beds, accommodation units and entire prisons to address the overcrowding problem.

“Our strategy is very simple:  We will not apologise for taking high-risk offenders off our streets and we are committed to investing in our prison system through dramatically increased infrastructure and proper education, employment and rehabilitation programs to help break the cycle of recidivism.”

Mr Porter said the accommodation units would complement the Government’s unprecedented $655million allocation in the May State Budget to create 1,657 beds in the prison system by 2014.

“This includes the 150-bed West Kimberley Prison; the 80-bed Young Adults Prison; the 350-bed Eastern Goldfields Prison; the 387-bed expansion at Acacia; and two new work camps in the Wheatbelt and Warburton region,” he said.