Plan to turn unused $400m Covid quarantine centre near Perth into new jail as prison crisis grows
A study is underway to determine whether a mostly unused Covid quarantine facility should be converted into a prison.
Bullsbrook National Resilience Center was built just north of Perth at the end of the Covid pandemic, but was never fully used.
The 500-bed facility was purpose-built for long-term residence and included on-site medical facilities and separate staff areas.
It remained vacant shortly after the pandemic ended.
The Western Australian government operated the $400 million center until 2023, marking it as a potential crisis accommodation site or prison facility to house inmates.
More recently, it has been used to quarantine passengers on a hantavirus cruise ship after passengers returned to Australia last month, and as an emergency evacuation center during a bushfire in 2023.
The Western Australian government is currently conducting a feasibility study to determine whether to convert the center into a prison to alleviate the state’s overcrowded prison system.
Prison Services Minister Paul Papalia said the prison population in Western Australia had increased by 38 per cent in the past three years, driven by the state’s response to domestic violence.
He said a number of initiatives were being taken to address the extraordinary growth, including further infrastructure works.
“A feasibility study is being done to see what this facility could be used for correctional services, but from the outside, I would say it would not be a prison,” he said.
“It would be a suitable place for people who are currently at very low risk at the end of their sentences.
“They have been evaluated, and with security clearance, they will be able to leave prisons and work in the community every day of the week.”
Custodial Services Inspector Eamon Ryan told the ABC the prison system was at full capacity and they had been calling for something to be done for years.
He said most major prisons in Western Australia were operating at over 107 per cent of capacity, with no spare beds available and inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor in single-bunk cells.
Although he believed the Bullsbrook center was worth investigating, he said a new prison was needed.
“There’s a third person on the floor now, I think there’s about 140 or 150 people,” he said.
“If you send someone to prison and keep them locked in a cell with another person for 23 hours or 22 hours a day and don’t give them any programming or training, they’re going to come out worse than when they went in.
“We need to treat them properly and rehabilitate them so they don’t re-offend when they get out.
“What I advocate really strongly is the need for a new prison and a very large maximum security detention facility.”
Opposition Leader Basil Zemplias said on social media that the government’s move showed how poorly the system was managed.
“After years of poor planning, Labor is scrambling for quick fixes and band-aid solutions to deal with the overcrowding crisis of its own making,” he said.
“Local residents are rightly asking questions about what this proposal means for their community and why planning appears to be taking place without proper consultation.”
