New prison at Gatton won't solve overcrowding problems, says Liberal National Party's Jarrod Bleijie

A NEW southeast Queensland prison will not solve overcrowding, the Opposition argues.

A NEW southeast Queensland prison will not solve overcrowding, the Opposition argues.

Corrective Services Minister Neil Roberts yesterday officially opened the 300-bed, $485 million Southern Queensland Correctional Centre near Gatton, west of Brisbane.

However, Opposition corrective services spokesman Jarrod Bleijie said the opening was an example of the Government's waste and mismanagement.

The nearby Borallon jail, which can house 480 prisoners, is to be decommissioned and a jail at Woodford, north of Brisbane, has had its capacity reduced by 500 beds.

The nearby Arthur Gorrie prison at Wacol, west of Brisbane, didn't even have beds for all of its inmates, Mr Bleijie claimed.

He said the new Gatton jail would be overflowing. "Prisoners are sleeping on floors at Arthur Gorrie prison and watchhouses are overflowing because of Labor's mismanagement," he said.

Mr Roberts said most of the new prison's inmates would come from the Borallon Correctional Centre, which would be temporarily decommissioned.

He said the new jail would be close to maximum capacity by the end of next month.

However, Mr Bleijie said the larger Borallon prison was closed only so the Queensland Government could broker a secret deal with the Federal Government to lease it as an immigration detention centre - a claim Mr Roberts denied.

"Just so there can be no confusion, I again rule out Borallon prison becoming an immigration detention centre," he said.

"I fully expect Borallon to be brought back online as a correctional centre sometime in the future when there is the demand for it."

The new Gatton jail has 32 buildings, including two secure accommodation cell block units to house 104 prisoners and nine residential accommodation blocks for 196 inmates.

"This state-of-the-art facility will provide safe and secure accommodation for 300 male prisoners in a high-security environment," Mr Roberts said.

"The complex also maintains the highest possible security standards, both internally and externally, with an enhanced focus on contraband detection."

Government Services Minister Simon Finn said the new jail was the first to implement sustainable practices.

"A number of additional features to minimise both energy and water consumption have been incorporated to reduce the carbon footprint," he said.