9 | Conditions of detention
During the inspection, the Commission was notified
by people in detention and by staff, and also
witnessed, that the centre was experiencing a mice
plague. Importantly, the Commission was informed
that this was because of the centre’s rural location
within Western Australia’s Wheatbelt and that this is
an issue in the general region, and not just centrespecific.
There was evidence of mice within the general
population shared common area, and several
people complained about the problem during
interviews. In meetings with Serco and ABF, staff
were acutely aware of the problem and continued
to engage in mice baiting fortnightly and providing
plastic containers to people in detention for in room
food storage.
Figure 18: Swan compound shared kitchen
9.2 Food provision
Continental breakfast supplies, such as bread,
cereals, spreads, and milk are available in shared
kitchen areas of each compound. Cooked lunches
and dinner are prepared and available daily in a
canteen within the main complex.
Some of the people interviewed provided negative
feedback regarding food, indicating that it was
of a low quality and sometimes lacked dietary
requirements. One person, however, said that
the food was much better than that in the prison
system. Serco said that food complaints had
decreased significantly since the food policy change
which allowed people, at the time of the inspection,
to order consumables from outside of the centre.
Figure 19: Falcon compound shared mess
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