Inspector of custodial services says inmates are sleeping on the floor and denied basic entitlements due to ‘a systemic failure across multiple prisons’

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Inmates in Western Australia are sleeping on mattresses on the floor of overcrowded cells and subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading” conditions, prompting the jails watchdog to call for urgent reform.

Most of WA’s correctional facilities are in crisis, with an increased level of harm observed across the system, the state’s inspector of custodial services, Eamon Ryan, said in a report tabled in parliament on Tuesday.

Federal environment department says Black Mountain Energy has provided insufficient data as it seeks to drill 20 gas wells in the Kimberley region

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The federal government has repeatedly raised concerns about an American company’s bid to frack for gas in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, part of the world’s largest and most intact tropical savanna.

Texas-based Black Mountain Energy, through its subsidiary Bennett Resources, is seeking federal approval to drill 20 gas wells for its Valhalla project west of Fitzroy Crossing.