Concerns about harassment and safety due to the co-location of women and men in mixed facilities are not only isolated to immigration detention. For example, the Western Australian Inspector of Custodial Services has raised similar issues about the women’s precinct within the Greenough Regional Prison198 and the fenceline between the Melaleuca Women’s Prison and the Hakea Prison.199 In 2014, the women’s precinct at Greenough Regional Prison had been called ‘a female island in a male prison’ by the Western Australian Inspector of Custodial Services.200 In some ways the precinct operates like the situation at VIDC with the Bryce, Cowan and Lachlan compounds. The women’s precinct runs alongside a male unit, which is separated from the women’s recreation area by a fenceline (though with privacy screening). The Western Australian Inspector of Custodial Services observed that ‘[i]nteraction is occurring [between men and women], and it would be naïve to pretend otherwise. And it is not interaction that promotes positive, respectful behaviour. The safety and security of women prisoners must be paramount’.201 In 2018, a large riot occurred at the Greenough Regional Prison. The independent review established after the riot, found that male prisoners were readily able to breach the separation fence and enter the women’s precinct within 27 minutes of the eruption of events. The Special Operations Group (SOG) (like the ERT though with enhanced weapons and tactics) were only able to enter the women’s precinct, 6 hours and 46 minutes after the male prisoners had gained access to the women’s unit.202 The review recommended that a separate, purpose built ‘prison within a prison’ was required, that was completely secure from the men’s section and self-contained with adequate services’.203 With respect to the VIDC, the Department could likewise repurpose the existing Miowera Village into a separate women’s compound. The Miowera Village is completely detached from the main centre and provides self-contained 3-bedroom units with built in air conditioning like those at the BRP, outdoor recreation areas, children’s outdoor play equipment and its own visits and activities centre. At the time of the Commissions visit, the Miowera Village was being used to accommodate one person who was immunocompromised. Following its visit to Australia in 2022, the UN SPT recommended that ‘men’s and women’s sections are adequately separated204’ in mixed gender facilities. The Commission strongly believes that the placement of women in the Miowera Village would represent the only ‘adequate’ separation from the male compounds. The move would significantly ease mental health impacts, remove women from the harassment and psychological stress caused by their proximity to the men, provide access for children and families (see Recommendations 10 and 11) and ameliorate other accommodation concerns (see Recommendations 27 and 28). While the Department could make changes to better secure the Cowan and Bryce compounds and enhance visual and auditory privacy, the Commission believes these changes would be insufficient to address its concerns for women’s safety and wellbeing, particularly in the event of a major incident in which control of VIDC was lost. RECOMMENDATION 24 The Department and Government should, as a matter of priority, and for the safety and wellbeing of women detained at VIDC: a) repurpose the Miowera Village as the women’s compound and discontinue the use of Bryce and Cowan for women’s accommodation, and b) ensure the necessary infrastructure changes are made to allow the Miowera Village to operate completely secure from the VIDC and self-contained with adequate services. 56 Not just an afterthoughtThe experience of women in immigration detention