Parramatta jail considered for re-opening as prisoner numbers rise

A BACKFLIP decision to reopen Parramatta prison will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, with the site recently given away to a new owner.

Open Day at Parramatta Jail. NSW / Prison / Interior

A BACKFLIP decision to reopen Parramatta prison will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, with the site recently given away to a new owner.

Insiders have revealed using the facility on a short-term basis to ease pressure on the state’s overcrowded corrective services system is being seriously considered.

However the government would have to lease the site back from the Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council, which won ownership last year. New staff would also be required.

Sydney’s Parklea prison is undergoing expansion expected to be completed by 2018.

The cost would depend on how much of Parramatta jail, which previously had 580 beds, would be reopened. One source said the government may choose to open just one of its six wings.

“If it was $4 million to reopen Kirkonnell, fully reopening Parramatta would cost two or three times that at least,” another insider said.

“It’s fallen behind in technology, it’s gone to rack and ruin because nobody’s been looking after it. It would be an enormous amount of work.”

Parramatta and Kirkonnell prisons were shut in 2011. A year later Grafton was downgraded as part of budget cuts.

The prison population has since risen, with a series of riots putting overcrowding in the system in the headlines.

The latest incident occurred on Thursday when four inmates at Wellington jail attacked prison officers after setting fire to their cells.

Authorities were forced to use teargas to quell the violence.

Sydney’s Parklea prison is being expanded by 2018 and a new prison is expected to open at Grafton, on the north coast, in late 2019. Parramatta prison, which dates back to 1798, could reopen sooner as a stopgap before those projects are completed.

Opposition prisons spokesman Guy Zangari said: “Reopening a prison from the 18th century shows how desperate this government has become.”