A review into the health of Canberra’s prison has found that the majority of detainees are bored.

The ACT’s Inspector of Correctional Services, Neil McAllister, has tabled his “healthy prisons” review to the ACT Legislative Assembly and made a total of 29 recommendations addressing a raft of issues at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC).

The review found there was an “overall decline” in conditions for detainees since 2019, and “widespread boredom” amongst prisoners.

“Of detainees surveyed, 79 per cent reported feeling bored due to a lack of meaningful activities, an increase of 15 per cent from 2019,” the report states.

“Staff and detainees alike told us that detainee boredom contributes to unrest and detainee/staff tensions.”

The report said that the pandemic impacted on the jail’s operations, causing staffing pressures and the detainees ability access to programs, visits and time out of the cell.

“However, the big issues of detainee boredom, lack of any education and a perceived decline in staff/detainee relations are chronic and cannot be attributed to the pandemic alone,” the report said.

“Of deep concern is that there has been no education at all and limited training provided in the AMC for over a year due to ongoing delays in securing a new education provider.

“This matter remains unresolved and, meanwhile, detainees are missing out.”

In the report, the inspector said that limited opportunities for rehabilitation at the AMC had essentially “let detainees down”.

“There has been a significant shortfall in programs,” the report said.

“The limited opportunities for rehabilitation over the past three years at the AMC has let down detainees and the ACT community alike.”

The report found that more work was needed to better accomodate female prisoners at the jail.

“Women make up around seven per cent of the AMC population and women are essentially existing within a men’s prison rather than a small diverse group with diverse needs,” the report said.

“Current accommodation options for women do not enable staff to appropriately manage needs including protection, segregation or intensive support in a gender-responsive way.”

The review noted that Winnunga Nimmityjah was an “excellent”  Aboriginal community controlled health service, providing primary care to prisoners at the AMC.