Corrective Services

Greens spokesperson for Corrective Services Hon Alison Xamon MLC has today slammed the call by the Corrective Services Minister for Amnesty International to apologise over its concerns about Banksia Hill Detention Centre.

Ms Xamon said the lack of evidence available to the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services (OICS) for its investigation – the result of poor record-keeping at Banksia Hill – reflected an appalling lack of transparency and accountability of the Government when dealing with our most vulnerable children and young people.

A lack of psychologists and mental health nurses in Western Australian prisons means the system is failing to adequately address prisoners’ health needs and some of the root causes of offending, Greens spokesperson for Mental Health and Corrective Services Hon Alison Xamon MLC has said.

Ms Xamon said almost half of prison entrants had a mental health issue.[1]

Despite this, she said, there were now fewer psychologists per prisoner in WA prisons than there were in 2014-15.