Dozens of protestors gathered outside WA's Hakea Prison on Monday to raise concerns about conditions in the facility in the wake of a death in the prison last week.

Protest co-organiser, First Nations activist Simone Loo, told National Indigenous Times people in Hakea are enduring over-crowding and other poor conditions.

"The boys are laying on the floor on a mattress and when one person needs to go to the toilet they have to wake the other person up so urine doesn't get on them," she said.

"They are in lockdown 23 hours a day, in over-crowded cells; they have three to four people in a two-man cell.

"They are making the boys eat in their cells with their hands, no cutlery. The boys said there are cockroaches and rats in the prison."

Ms Loo said authorities had cut the phones off so prisoners go days without contact with their families.

"They cut the visits off and they don't tell anybody, they just wait until family comes to the prison and then send them away. And that's what is sending most of the prisoners off," she said.

"The wives and partners, they don't get told the visit is off until they're at the prison doors."

A WA Department of Justice spokesperson told National Indigenous Times that "amid higher prisoner populations across WA, adaptive routines are being used where required, including at Hakea Prison".

"These allow for redeployment of officers to meet operational priorities. This can result in cancellation of certain activities, including social visits, and a temporary reduction of time spent out of cells," he said.

"Most cells at Hakea are built to accommodate multiple beds and there are beds available for all prisoners. The Department of Justice is undertaking a review of prison staffing to develop a new, flexible model that meets current and future operational demands, and deliver the best services to people in our care.

"Staffing is being increased through concerted recruitment and training to bring at least 288 new Prison Officers into operations state-wide in 2024, with further expansions expected for the coming years. Prisoners are provided cutlery with their meals. There have not been four prisoners to a cell at Hakea."

Ms Loo said the protest outside Hakea would be the first of a series aimed at the state's justice system.

"We had a successful and peaceful protest, it will be the starting one of many," she told National Indigenous Times.