Albany Regional Prison Explained

Albany Regional Prison
Location:Albany, Western Australia
Status:Operational
Classification:Mixed (male)
Capacity:310, plus work camp
Opened:16 September 1966
Managed By:Department of Justice, Western Australia

Albany Regional Prison is a maximum security prison located 8 km West of Albany, Western Australia. Albany Prison was commissioned in 1966 with a capacity of 72 minimum security cells. In 1979 it was upgraded to maximum security and in 1988 expanded to a capacity of 126. In 1993 it expanded again, to 186 standard-bed cells[1] and by 2013 to 310.

Albany Prison is the only maximum-security prison outside Perth and manages maximum, medium and minimum-security prisoners and holds a significant number of long-term prisoners originally from other countries.

Since 1996 Albany prison has been responsible for administering the nearby the Pardelup and Walpole work camps.

The prisoners are able to study full-time in various subjects or work in one of the various workshops that are part of the prison.[2]

A prison officer, Anthony Daniels, was stabbed four times during an escape attempt by two prisoners in 1994. Officer Daniels received a Prison Service Bravery Award in 2000.[3]

On 29 December 2010, minimum security inmate Shane Gibbs escaped by driving off in a utility vehicle.[4]

Less than ten prisoners were involved in a riot in September 2018 that caused damage to cells, lights, windows and a security grille. The riot was quelled in less than two hours and was caused by the rejection of an application of two prisoners to relocate to a prison in Perth.[5]

References

-35.0439°N 117.8178°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Department of Corrective Services - Albany Regional Prison. 2007. 2007-05-26.
  2. Web site: WA Prisons . 2002 . 2008-05-15 . https://archive.today/20091025055807/http://www.geocities.com/justoz1/wa_prisons.htm . 2009-10-25 . dead .
  3. Web site: Ministerial Media Statements-Great Southern Prison Officers honoured for bravery . 2000 . 2008-05-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080727072408/http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/CourtCoalitionGovernmentSearch.aspx?ItemId=110887&minister=Foss&admin=Court . 27 July 2008 . dead . dmy-all .
  4. News: Prisoner on the loose in WA . The Sydney Morning Herald . 2010-12-30.
  5. Web site: Albany prison riot adds to overcrowding woes. Tim Edmunds. 28 November 2019. 24 September 2018. Albany Advertiser. The West Australian.