Prison performance cash angers WA union

A plan to give the private operator of Western Australia's new women's jail incentive payments for reducing re-offending rates has been described as "a slap in the face" to those working at an existing Perth facility.

French multinational Sodexo has been named as the operator of the new Melaleuca women's jail at Hakea Prison and will be the first in the state to receive performance payments.

"It's a slap in the face to all the hard working prison officers, who have been managing the chronic overcrowding at the current (Bandyup) facility, for the government to tell them it thinks an overseas private provider can come in and do a better job," WA Prison Officers' Union secretary John Welch said.