Casuarina to open new wing

When it opens some time in the next two months, a new $26 million accommodation section at Casuarina Prison will allow the facility to hold an extra 345 prisoners.

At present, the prison holds 611 prisoners, but when the section is commissioned it will be able to hold 956 prisoners.

A spokesman for Corrective Services Minister Terry Redman said the accommodation was made up of two units and each unit had 64 cells with 128 beds, giving a total of 256 new beds.

He said the accommodation would improve conditions for prisoners at Casuarina and allow for some of the older areas of the prison to be refurbished.

The new cells, which have showers, are bigger and have fewer areas where things can be tied.

Program rooms and interview rooms are also included in the units and staff will have better purpose-built facilities to work in.

Similar sections were opened earlier this year at Hakea Prison (256 beds) and Albany Regional Prison (128 beds).

Mr Redman said the Liberal-National Government was committed to supporting offender rehabilitation and reducing the likelihood of recidivism.

‘‘Labor ignored the need to invest in additional infrastructure because it simply kept offenders on our streets,’’ he said.

The prison expansion program was funded by savings of $60 million on the cost of expanding Acacia prison and $7 million following modifications to the planned Wheatbelt work camp.