Queensland watch-houses are in critical WPHS failure
Since 4 March, 26 different watch-houses have recorded a critical Workplace Health and Safety (WPHS) failure (over 100% capacity), on 161 separate days — 1,486 individual readings in critical failure in total.
Latest Data: Sunday 16 August 2026, 18:00Children & Length of Stay
Adults and children are being held in watch-houses for periods that often exceed the CJC’s recommended three-day maximum; using the dropdown below, you can select individual watch-houses or combine them to view this trend.
Adults in Custody
Children in Custody
Adults - Time in Custody
Children - Time in Custody
Note: the adult and children charts use different vertical scales so children's trends stay readable. Gaps mark dates where QPS published totals but no breakdown data exists.
Watch-house Occupancy Over Time
By default, only watch-houses above the 85% alert threshold are shown; the dropdown below lets you select everyone, adults, children, and choose individual or combined watch-houses.
Breakdown Over Time
You can apply the same selection across days in custody, First Nations status, or gender — with results filtered by the age selector above (everyone / adults / children).
QPS publishes these breakdowns per age group only, so combinations across dimensions (e.g. First Nations and over 7 days) are not available. Gaps mark dates where QPS published totals but no breakdown data.
Explore the Data – All Prisoners
Switch between views — the same data, shown the way that suits you. Every cell, bar and point is coloured to highlight capacity. QPS publish two snapshots per day — 06:00 (AM) and 18:00 (PM).
cap 4
cap 6
cap 42
cap 22
cap 32
cap 42
cap 31
cap 20
cap 93
cap 8
cap 23
cap 21
cap 21
cap 20
cap 10
cap 69
cap 8
cap 22
Each watch-house's most recent published occupancy, ranked highest first. The dashed line marks 100% capacity; anything past it is over capacity.
Indicates, for each day, how many watch-houses reached WPHS alert (85–100%) or critical failure (over 100%). Taller stacks reflect more watch-houses operating above safe limits.
Most recent published count for every watch-house, ranked by occupancy. Empty rows mean QPS has not published a recent figure.
| Watch-house | Prisoners | Capacity | % capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryborough Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 8 | 4 | 200.0% |
| Ipswich District Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 38 | 32 | 118.8% |
| Caboolture Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 36 | 31 | 116.1% |
| Townsville Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 47 | 42 | 111.9% |
| Cairns Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 43 | 42 | 102.4% |
| Dalby Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 6 | 6 | 100.0% |
| Toowoomba Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 23 | 23 | 100.0% |
| Brisbane Watch-house WPHS alert | 87 | 93 | 93.5% |
| Pine Rivers Watch-house WPHS alert | 19 | 21 | 90.5% |
| Richlands Watch-house WPHS alert | 18 | 20 | 90.0% |
| Southport Watch-house WPHS alert | 61 | 69 | 88.4% |
| Cleveland Watch-house WPHS alert | 7 | 8 | 87.5% |
| Mackay Watch-house WPHS alert | 19 | 22 | 86.4% |
| Rockhampton Watch-house WPHS alert | 19 | 22 | 86.4% |
| Mareeba Watch-house Within capacity | 10 | 12 | 83.3% |
| Gympie Watch-house Within capacity | 7 | 10 | 70.0% |
| Maroochydore Watch-house Within capacity | 17 | 27 | 63.0% |
| Logan District / Beenleigh Watch-house Within capacity | 10 | 16 | 62.5% |
| Mount Isa Watch-house Within capacity | 13 | 21 | 61.9% |
| Caloundra Watch-house Within capacity | 11 | 20 | 55.0% |
| Bundaberg Watch-house Within capacity | 11 | 21 | 52.4% |
| Aurukun Station Within capacity | 6 | 12 | 50.0% |
| Innisfail Watch-house Within capacity | 3 | 9 | 33.3% |
| Warwick Watch-house Within capacity | 4 | 14 | 28.6% |
| Gladstone Watch-house Within capacity | 4 | 15 | 26.7% |
| Whitsunday Watch-house Within capacity | 2 | 9 | 22.2% |
| Lockhart River Station Within capacity | 1 | 6 | 16.7% |
| Woorabinda Watch-house Within capacity | 1 | 7 | 14.3% |
| Ayr Station Within capacity | 1 | 8 | 12.5% |
| Murgon Watch-house Within capacity | 1 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Redcliffe Watch-house Within capacity | 1 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Hervey Bay Watch-house Within capacity | 1 | 10 | 10.0% |
| Thursday Island Station Within capacity | 1 | 10 | 10.0% |
| Doomadgee Watch-house Within capacity | 1 | 15 | 6.7% |
| Atherton Station Within capacity | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Bamaga Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Bowen Station Within capacity | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Charleville Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Charters Towers Station Within capacity | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Cooktown Station Within capacity | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Coolangatta Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Cunnamulla Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Dunwich Station Within capacity | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Emerald Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Gatton Station Within capacity | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Goondiwindi Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Ingham Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Kingaroy Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Kowanyama Station Within capacity | 0 | 10 | 0.0% |
| Longreach Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Moranbah Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Mornington Island Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| Mossman Station Within capacity | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| Normanton Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 9 | 0.0% |
| Palm Island Station Within capacity | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Pormpuraaw Station Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Roma Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Saint George Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Sandgate Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Weipa Station Within capacity | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| Wynnum Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Yarrabah Station Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
Download a Watch-house Report
Select a watch-house to generate a one-page PDF summary showing capacity, occupancy over time, peak levels, time in custody, and breach history.
Workplace Safety Alert
Watch-house capacity data published below has been obtained from the official QPS public website (QPS Watch-house data).
QPU has serious concerns for member safety in Watch-houses which operate above 100% capacity.
Current data shows that on average 70% of all prisoners held in QPS custody are Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) prisoners, not police prisoners.
This directly contradicts long standing recommendations. As far back as 1996, a Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) report recommended that QCS prisoners should not be held in police watch-houses for longer than three days. This position was reaffirmed in 2025 through the QPS 100 Day Review, authored by the current Acting Police Commissioner.
Despite this, watch-house data continues to highlight unsafe working environments in which QPS officers are required to operate daily managing QCS prisoners.
The QPU calls on the QPS Executive Leadership Team to immediately address this issue and stop practices that knowingly expose officers to unsafe workplaces.