The drunk driver who killed baby Nate Dunbar spent less than 10 weeks in Bandyup Prison before being transferred to a pre-release centre where she lives in village-style accommodation with a cafe, gardens and playgrounds.

The decision to move Melissa Ann Waters so early in her sentence has angered Nate's parents Stacy and Justin, who said she should serve more time in a regular prison.

Waters was more than three times the legal alcohol limit when she crashed into the Dunbars' Merriwa home in January last year, crushing eight-month-old Nate before fleeing the scene.

On September 24, Waters pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death and driving under the influence of alcohol, and was sentenced to three years and eight months jail.

But on December 2, she was transferred from Bandyup to Boronia pre-release centre, a minimum-security facility near Curtin University designed to help women prepare for freedom.

With parole, Waters' earliest release date is next July.

The Department of Corrective Services' website says Boronia "manages minimum-security female prisoners and their children in a community-style setting".





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Killed: Nate Dunbar

Women share Homeswest-style houses and many prisoners leave the centre, which is fenced and secure, to volunteer or work outside. Some prisoners' children stay overnight.

Waters has applied for up to 12 hours leave a month, starting in September. Leave may increase to include weekends outside prison.

Nate's parents learnt of Waters' move to Boronia through the Victim Notification Register, which provides information about the status, location and activities of prisoners.

"Once again the justice system has let us down," Mrs Dunbar said. "When Ms Waters was sentenced, that should have been when my family and I felt justice was served and we could start to grieve and mourn our son.

“But instead, we are made to feel like we are the ones being punished.

“Firstly, by the terribly lenient sentence that was handed out and now to learn that she has only spent 10 ten weeks in the general prison population.

How is it right that she denies us the right to see our son grow up, but the system allows her more time to spend with her family when she should be being punished for killing our son?

“The stress that this has put us under is enormous, and we haven’t been able to truly grieve for our little Nate.”

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