ROEBOURNE REGIONAL PRISON
6. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the minister representing the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer the minister to recent
media coverage regarding the lack of air conditioning at Roebourne Regional
Prison, and to subsequent stories in the press suggesting that Roebourne
prisoners were not, as at late January, being administered COVID vaccinations.
(1) Since being sworn in as Minister for Corrective
Services, how many times and on what dates has the minister visited
Roebourne Regional Prison?
(2) Were any
concerns raised with the minister in the course of any of those visits about
air conditioning or the adverse impacts of heat upon prisoners; and, if so, by
whom, on what dates, and what action, if any, did the minister take in
response?
(3) Can the
minister confirm that vaccinations are now being rolled out to prisoners at
Roebourne Regional Prison; and, if they are, on what date did that rollout
begin, and what medical advice, if any, was received, recommending that
vaccinations be administered differently within a prison setting in general, or
in Roebourne Regional Prison in particular, than elsewhere in the state?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the
question. The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for
Corrective Services.
(1) The minister
visited Roebourne Regional Prison on 3 December 2021. The ambient temperature
on that day was 45.9 degrees Celsius, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
(2) The minister
raised the issue of heat mitigation at the facility with staff and inspected
various measures that were in place.
(3) Corrective Services, under the Department of
Justice, has completed two phases of COVID-19 vaccinations within the
custodial estate, which included Roebourne Regional Prison. Phase 1 ran from 1 July
2021 to 2 September 2021, and was available
to all consenting adult prisoners. Phase 2 ran from 23 November 2021 to 16
December 2021, and was available to all consenting adult prisoners and young
people, aged 12 years and over, within the custodial estate and staff.
Roebourne Regional Prison is scheduled for its next vaccination clinic in early
March 2022. Following this visit for third-round vaccinations, maintenance
visits will take place to vaccinate any new prisoners or transfers from other
facilities who require vaccination. Although the delivery of vaccines to
prisoners within the prison setting is not far from removed from the way in
which vaccinations are delivered in the community, the department advises that
security protocols are in place and several different methods of
ensuring prisoners, particularly Aboriginal prisoners, understand the benefits
of receiving vaccination. Staff also assist prisoners who have literacy issues
in completing the required consent forms.