Woman’s death in WA prison questioned

An Aboriginal woman has died in Western Australia’s Bandyup Women’s Prison.

The woman, 35, was found unresponsive in her cell early yesterday morning.

Prison staff provided first aid to the woman before paramedics arrived and the woman was declared deceased at the prison.

“Preliminary reports indicate that there were no suspicious circumstances,” a WA Corrective Services spokesperson said.

A report is being prepared for the State Coroner.

The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls is questioning why the woman was in solitary confinement.

Overcrowding a problem

“We do not yet know whether this woman was being held in solitary confinement, why she was in a single cell, or what circumstances led to her death,” Founder Debbie Kilroy told NITV.

Ms Kilroy noted the issue of “dangerously overcrowded” prisons which “place immense strain on the women inside”.

Network member and Founder of Voice of Hope, Lorraine Pryor said overcrowding is a major health concern.

“Overcrowding creates conditions of heightened distress, isolation and neglect,” she said.

“It reduces access to health care, mental health support and meaningful human contact.

“These conditions are not incidental, they are the predictable outcome of policies that continue to expand policing and imprisonment, including increasingly punitive bail laws that are driving the imprisonment of more women, many of whom are themselves survivors of violence and poverty.”