The Adelaide Remand Centre will remain a privately-run prison after the South Australian government brushed aside criticisms to renew the contract with Serco for five years.

The Victorian government will spend $229 million on new prison beds, five times what it has allocated to programs aiming to keep people out of them.

There are a number of groups around the country that inspect prisons and provide feedback and recommendations to governments. These often involve visiting prisons and talking directly to people in custody.

The Women’s Advocacy Service is a partnership between Legal Aid NSW and the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), providing face-to-face appointments with both a lawyer and a social worker.

The men at Fremantle Prison learnt how to grow fresh food by planting concentrated rows of sturdy cabbage, corn, carrots, spring onions and other edible plants that could withstand the harsh WA sun. At its peak, the garden supplied the prison kitchen with more than 10,000 kilograms of fruit and vegetables each year.

The Inspector of Detention Services Queensland is undertaking a review of Maximum Security Units (MSUs) at Arthur Gorrie, Brisbane and Woodford Correctional Centres.

Including the prison population growing in the ACT, a drug bust during a prison visit in Victoria, Hakea inmates suing state government in WA and more.

With Mother’s Day this month, prison visits have never been more important. But for children with a parent in prison, or other loved ones, this process can be scary and intimidating, with a lot of rules and conditions.

Australia’s biggest prison is so “grossly understaffed” in mental health services that people with acute needs should not be held there, the NSW prison inspector has found.

South Australia is the only state or territory in Australia that does not provide 24/7 medical staff on site at its women’s prison.