Report 12

The Banksia Hill Detention Centre Redevelopment Project

Background

Banksia Hill Detention Centre (BHDC) is Western Australia’s sole juvenile correctional facility and is owned and operated by the Department of Corrective Services (DCS). BHDC houses male and female offenders aged between 10 and 18. Some of the detainees at BHDC are on remand, awaiting trial. The remainder have been sentenced to a period of detention after being convicted of a crime.

The number of juveniles in custody has increased over the past ten years (Figure 1). WA currently has the second highest rate of juvenile detention across Australia. In the three months ending June 2013, WA had an average of 0.69 young people per 1 000 in detention compared with the national average of 0.35 young people per 1 000.

Figure 1 - Daily average population of youth in custody between 2001 and 2011.

At the time of our audit there were 199 juveniles in detention. One hundred and five of these were serving a custodial sentence and the remaining 94 were on remand. One hundred and seventy three detainees were male, 22 were under 14 and the youngest was 11. One hundred and forty two (71 per cent) of the 199 detainees were indigenous children.

Sentencing a child to a period of detention is used as a last resort. Many of the detainees at BHDC are repeat offenders, where all other interventions have been tried. Other detainees are sentenced for first, but serious offences. It is important that detainees in custody are given the best opportunities available to change their offending behaviour. At BHDC, detainees attend school and complete intervention programs.

BHDC was designed to reflect the Department’s philosophy for managing juveniles, using a campus style layout, free from high internal fences and other ‘hard’ security features often associated with adult prisons. Once inside the secure perimeter fence, BHDC resembles a high school, with classrooms, open playing fields and other facilities. Since a major disturbance at the facility in January 2013, security grills and other higher security measures are being installed.

In 2008, the Government committed to opening a young adult correctional facility. This facility, known as Wandoo, was to cater for 18 to 24 year old minimum security prisoners.  In implementing this commitment, DCS recommended the conversion of one of its existing juvenile facilities, Rangeview Remand Centre (Rangeview), to a young adult facility with the juvenile detainees from Rangeview being moved to its other juvenile facility, BHDC.

Between February 2010 and November 2012, BHDC underwent a significant capital works upgrade (the BHDC redevelopment project) to accommodate the detainees moving from Rangeview. The new buildings increased the capacity at BHDC by 85 per cent to 222 beds.  DCS advised the redevelopment project is the largest and most complex building project ever undertaken inside a fully operational WA correctional facility. Building Management and Works (BMW), which is part of the Department of Finance, was responsible for the tender, contractual management and the overall project management of the construction of the new buildings.

Figure 2 - Overview of project to establish Wandoo.

The project was made up of two stages, three separable portions, multiple new buildings and was built by two construction companies (Figure 2).The total project cost to establish Wandoo, including the refurbishment of Rangeview and redevelopment works at BHDC was around $36 million dollars. This is considered a medium size building project in terms of cost, but the location of the building works within a secure site made it more complex.

When a prison or detention centre has to be extended or expanded, the preferred and lowest risk option, when physically possible, is to construct new buildings outside the existing prison wall and then move the wall to bring the new buildings inside once they are complete. Building inside an operating facility is the least preferred and highest risk option. It means increased movement in and out of the facility each day which increases security risks. It makes access for the builders more difficult and reduces the productive time they can spend on site because they have to ‘clear’ security checks. Because the building works are in close proximity to offenders, supervision has to be increased, contractors have to be escorted and there are increased requirements in securing the site, tools and vehicles.  Building outside of the prison boundary was not an option for the BHDC expansion due to the location of the proposed new buildings and the location of the existing perimeter fence.

Page last updated: August 7, 2013

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