Acacia Prison

Serco took responsibility for the operation of Acacia Prison in May 2006. 

It is a 750 bed male, medium security prison located 60 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia. Indigenous prisoners account for more than 30 per cent of the total prison population.

The design for Acacia Prison enjoys best practice in correctional centre design and operation. It addresses the need to provide a safe, secure, innovative, and cost effective facility.

As a result of the high Indigenous prisoner population, an Indigenous Advisory Board was formed with representatives of key Indigenous organisations and communities.

At Acacia we pride ourselves on our approach to rehabilitation. Our programmes focus on areas essential to the prisoners’ successful rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. They include addressing cognitive, emotional, and offending behaviour, and academic and vocational skills deficits.

Some of the programmes successfully introduced by the Acacia team include:

• Indigenous health service initiatives
• Literacy, language, art, design and music courses
• Increased Indigenous prisoner involvement in the peer support programme
• Specific needs management
• Education and employment programs

Acacia Prison is not dissimilar to a small community and employs staff from a range of professional backgrounds including:

• Case management, security and administrative staff
• Teachers and trades instructors
• Medical and mental health staff
• Chefs
• Recreation officers.

Acacia Prison is wholly owned by the State and is managed by Serco under a 15-year contract with the Western Australian Department of Corrective Services.