Report tabled in State Parliament reveals alarming surge in WA prisoner escapes as trial times blowout

An embarrassing surge in prisoner escapes has been revealed in new Department of Justice data, along with wait times for trials in some of WA’s busiest courts stretching out even further. The department’s latest annual report tabled in State Parliament this week showed there were eight escapes by adult inmates in 2024-25. That compares to none during the previous financial year, one in 2023-24, and four in each of the two financial years before that. The department’s target is, naturally, zero. The eight fugitives were all returned to custody. Two of them escaped maximum security during an “external medical escort from Greenough Regional Prison” and “during transfer of custody from an external agency”. One fled medium security, also during an external medical escort but this time from Casuarina Prison in Perth’s south. Answers to questions in State parliament by Shadow Attorney General Nick Goiran in September revealed that the inmate fled Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch but was recaptured by escort staff in a nearby carpark. Five absconded from minimum security, with four of those failing to return to Wyndham Work Camp from day release and one from Boronia Pre Release Centre for Women in Bentley. A State Government spokesperson said the returns to custody were swift. “Every incident is reviewed by the Department of Justice to enhance procedures,” they said. This financial year is already off to a bad start, with accused child sex offender Robert Kevin McCullough, 39, managing to leave Perth Magistrates Court in August, allegedly by using a false name. He spent more than 24 hours on the run before turning himself in. Mr Goiran also uncovered details about an escape from Melaleuca Women’s Prison in July, when an inmate absconded from an ambulance upon arrival at Fiona Stanley Hospital but was again recaptured by escort staff in a nearby carpark. The department’s report also showed Supreme Court criminal trials took 58 weeks to begin, from when they were first committed from a lower court, up from 56 for the prior financial year. The number for District Court criminal trials was unchanged from 2023-24 at 64 weeks - double the target of 32 weeks. Time to trial for Magistrates Court matters, both criminal and civil, blew out by a fortnight to 25 weeks, partly attributed to an increase in demand for restraining order matters. While a huge 106 week wait in the Coroner’s Court - from notification of death to the first inquest hearing - would no doubt be agonising for loved ones, it was the best outcome in recent memory, at 17 per cent or 22 weeks lower than target. Another key figure in the report is the rate at which sentenced adult prisoners return to Corrective Services within two years of release, after completing at least one offender program. The rate was 42.2 per cent in 2024-25, compared to a target of 39 per cent and result of 34.8 per cent in 2021-22. “This is an indicator of how effectively the Department is providing program interventions to reduce the rate of reoffending and imprisonment,” the report read.