Female prisoners allegedly raped by male inmates during riot at remote jail

Female inmates at a remote prison in Western Australia were allegedly raped by male prisoners who climbed a fence to break into a women’s section during an hours-long riot.

Violence erupted at the West Kimberley Regional Prison in Derby in the state’s northwest in June last year, but allegations about sexual assaults were not disclosed to the public until the issue was raised in parliament this week.

During the riot a group of male prisoners broke out of their cells and set fire to parts of the facility, which is designed to hold 120 males and 30 females, and staff allege some of the male prisoners scaled a fence to get into the female area and raped some of the women inside.

The detention centre has previously said it was dealing with the state’s prison overcrowding crisis with an “operating philosophy which is focused on local aboriginal culture”, with inmates living in “self-care shared houses” where they do their own cooking, cleaning and laundry.

In an official statement released after the rampage the Department of Justice did not disclose the sexual assault allegations, and wrote: “There was no risk to the community, with the incident confined to the bounds of the prison and resolved.

“The site was secured, and the incident was resolved due to a rapid interagency response by prison staff and local police.”

But text messages and emails from staff obtained by The West Australian show a worker wrote “there is concern sexual intercourse may have occurred” in the immediate aftermath of the incident, and revealed medical support was provided to at least one woman.

“I have just spoken with (name removed) who will contact (name removed) to arrange post incident services support for the women,” another staff member said in a follow-up email.

Correctives Services Minister Paul Papalia was asked about the incident by Liberal MP Adam Hort in parliament this week after a the prison was given $7 million for a fence upgrade in the state budget, and confirmed male prisoners had entered the female section of the prison.

“Were any of those female prisoners exposed to risk as a result of that break-in?” Mr Hort asked.

“Undoubtedly, because they were in a place they were not supposed to be,” Mr Papalia replied, and referred questions to whether an “incident of a sexual nature” occurred to Corrective Services Commissioner Bradley Royce.

“Shortly after the event, within the days after, we did become aware of incidents. They have been referred to WA Police. I do not want to get into the specifics because there are vulnerable people involved,” Mr Royce confirmed.

Mr Hort said the female inmates had been failed by government mismanagement of the prison.

“When male prisoners can break into a female wing, the women inside are trapped with nowhere to go and no way to protect themselves. That is an unforgivable failure of prison security and basic duty of care,” he said.

“It should not have taken Estimates questioning and FOI documents for the Government to come clean about a security failure that exposed vulnerable women in State custody to risk.”

The prison is described as a “purpose built facility designed to support Aboriginal culture, kinship and connection to country”, and a year before the riot stated its operations were “guided by an innovative philosophy that involves holding prisoners on or near country and service delivery informed by traditional culture fostering independent living skills”.

Mr Royce said at the time the “quality of life rating” among prisoners was at or above the state average.

“The prison’s management and staff are to be commended for the safe and secure operation of a regional custodial facility housing an increasingly complex and large cohort of prisoners,” he said.

Header image: The West Kimberley Regional Prison (Google Maps).

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