Prisoners in the Kimberley have been drafted in to assist with providing meals for the growing number of workers rebuilding the flood-hit region.
Extensive damage to the Great Northern Highway has interrupted freight routes, leaving Derby isolated and only accessible by air.
The town has suffered from food shortages, with displaced flood victims uncertain of when they can return home.
While the kitchens at West Kimberley Regional Prison were already busy, the influx of workers has been giving prisoners a chance to contribute to the rebuild and work towards their reintegration into the community.
Superintendent Heather Murchie said the self-contained environment in the prison offered prisoners the opportunity to gain life skills.
"Our prison is very unique," she said.
"It's the only one in Australia that's constructed specifically around Aboriginal prisoners and their connection back to country and keeping the connection to family and community."
The facility currently holds almost 200 prisoners and is monitored by 150 staff.
Ms Murchie said inmates were concerned about the effects of the flooding and were feeling disempowered and wanted to support their families.
"By giving back to their communities, they feel that they're contributing and being part of the overall rescue effort," she said.
The ABC isn't allowed to identify the prisoners, but the head cook, who is being referred to as John, says the inmates want to have a positive impact by preparing the meals.
"[They'll do] anything to help out – the prison helps them," he said.
"It's something to give back to the community and help them out because the floods destroyed their homes."
John and his fellow inmates have been worried for their families who have been affected by the floods and are eager to support them through their cooking.
"It's pretty bad. People's homes just went under and have got nowhere to stay," he said.
Life skills for prisoners
While growing up in Broome, John said he learned how to cook at a young age and hoped the kitchen experience could help him start a new life outside prison.
Before the floods, the prison supplied meals to the Derby Aboriginal Short Stay Accommodation, as well as for staff and inmates.
Ms Murchie said prisoners had provided emergency packs, frozen meals, toiletries and personal items for emergency workers and the Fitzroy Crossing residents who were airlifted to refuge in Derby.
"They're amazing and they get these meals out professionally and with a smile on their face," she said.
Ms Murchie said inmates were incarcerated as a punishment, not to be punished, and the prison aimed to reduce recidivism.
"We're about contemporary prison practices: Being able to identify the criminogenic needs and to set them on a path to educate, to assist and support them to be productive members back in the community," she said.
Inmates gain experience and become proficient in tasks like maintenance and cooking, which provides them with life skills that they can take beyond their prison sentence, Ms Murchie said.
"Part of our mandate is to protect the community and to help prisoners lead sustainable, positive lives when they leave," she said.
"These guys are pretty chilled and part of that is because of the ethos of the prison and also the environment they're in and they respond to that environment in a positive way."
