**'Chaos in Custody: Inmates at Greenough Prison Accused of Plotting Riot'**

A plot by inmates to riot and take hostages at a prison in regional Western Australia has sparked further questions about pressure on the state's corrective services system.

WA's Prison Officers Union (WAPOU) said staff at Greenough Regional Prison, 400 kilometres north of Perth, uncovered the plot last month.

Allegedly hatched by nine inmates, the plan included starting a disturbance and taking staff, including prison officers, as hostages.

Greenough was the site of one of WA's worst prison escapes , with 10 inmates going on the run after a riot that left hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in 2018.

WAPOU secretary Andy Smith said evidence of the plot was "tested and found to be credible enough" for the union to pressure the Department of Justice to act.

"It took pressure from the union to force the department to arrive at Greenough Regional Prison and relocate nine prisoners," Mr Smith said.

Asked on Monday about a "riot or similar event", the department denied there had been any "recent disturbances" at the prison.

Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia did not respond to a question about safety at Greenough prison.

He did point to efforts by the Corrective Services Commissioner to "boost staff to record levels", and $4.7 million allocated in the state budget towards custodial infrastructure planning.

Mr Smith said the near miss was "extremely worrying" to the union.

"We don't know if that [hostages] would have been prison officers, pubic servants or civilian staff," he said.

'Agitated' by overcrowding

Mr Smith said the aborted plot was the consequence of tension at the prison triggered by understaffing and overcrowding.

Figures tabled in state parliament last month showed the facility was housing 33 prisoners more than its recommended capacity.

"We are so horrendously understaffed that prisoners are locked up in their cells for longer than they are legally entitled to be locked up," Mr Smith said.

"Prisoners are obviously constantly agitated —they're locked up under conditions that they shouldn't have to endure because we don't have the room to keep them."

Mr Smith said the impacts included increased violence against prisoners and staff, as well as a greater risk of deaths in custody.

"[We're] not able to give the prisoners what they're legally entitled to receive in the way of fresh air and exercise, access to visits or education or gainful employment," he said.

"It's [safety issues] going to increase over the coming years before they can build another prison and actually employ the number of officers they need to employ."

'Almost inhumane' punishment

Geraldton-based criminal lawyer George Giudice this week said the conditions in Greenough Prison were causing "extreme distress" to several of his clients.

"It's not appropriate in terms of punishment because it's almost inhumane," he said.

"They have three prisoners in a cell, prisoners sleeping on mattresses and prisoners locked down for extensive periods during the day."

Mr Giudice said society would need to accept substantially increased spending on the prison system if punitive, tough-on-crime approaches remained popular.

"This is the shambles that exists at the moment in the prisons," he said.

"If society wants more people locked up, then they should build more prisons and make them suitable to house people."