❓ Mr. L'Estrange asked about prisoner and officer assault rates and numbers in WA prisons for 2019-20. The answer provides specific figures and notes changes in reporting standards that affect data comparability.
AnsweredQoN 6352Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(1) What were the prisoner on prisoner assault and serious assault rates for 2019-20? (2) How many prisoner on prisoner assaults and serious assaults occurred in WA prisons in 2019-20? (3) What were the prisoner on officer assault and serious assault rates for 2019-20? (4) How many assaults and serious assaults on prison staff occurred in WA prisons in 2019-20?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
15 September 2020
Responded by
Minister for Emergency Services; Corrective Services
Response time
9 days
(1) The prisoner on prisoner assault rate was 8.35 per 100 prisoners and the serious assault rate was 1.09 per 100 prisoners for 2019-20.
(2) There were 581 prisoner on prisoner assaults and 76 prisoner on prisoner serious assaults occurred in WA adult prisons during 2019-20.
(3) The prisoner on officer assault rate was 1.38 per 100 prisoners and the serious assault rate was 0.22 per 100 prisoners for 2019- 20.
(4) There were 96 assaults against officers and 15 serious assaults against officers in WA adult prisons during 2019-20.
Please note: During 2018 the Department of Justice (the Department) conducted its own internal audit of KPI data in relation to the “rate of serious assaults per 100 prisoners”, which estimated the under-reporting of serious assaults to be at approximately 27 per cent. This led to the Department taking a number of steps to tighten its reporting standards, enhance the software used to record incidents, and strengthen quality assurance processes around incident reporting and recording. As a result, the way data is entered for assault statistics was updated during the early part of 2018-19 and therefore recent data is not comparable to preceding years with the exception of serious assaults data.
(2) There were 581 prisoner on prisoner assaults and 76 prisoner on prisoner serious assaults occurred in WA adult prisons during 2019-20.
(3) The prisoner on officer assault rate was 1.38 per 100 prisoners and the serious assault rate was 0.22 per 100 prisoners for 2019- 20.
(4) There were 96 assaults against officers and 15 serious assaults against officers in WA adult prisons during 2019-20.
Please note: During 2018 the Department of Justice (the Department) conducted its own internal audit of KPI data in relation to the “rate of serious assaults per 100 prisoners”, which estimated the under-reporting of serious assaults to be at approximately 27 per cent. This led to the Department taking a number of steps to tighten its reporting standards, enhance the software used to record incidents, and strengthen quality assurance processes around incident reporting and recording. As a result, the way data is entered for assault statistics was updated during the early part of 2018-19 and therefore recent data is not comparable to preceding years with the exception of serious assaults data.
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