Hundreds of staff hired at Western Plains Correctional Centre before prisoners arrived

Hundreds of prison guards and staff were working at Victoria’s new prison before a single prisoner had been locked up in a move slammed as a gross waste of public money.

The Western Plains Correctional Centre boasted hundreds of staff before a single prisoner had arrived. Picture: NewsWire/ Nadir Kinani

Hundreds of corrections staff were employed at Victoria’s new billion-dollar prison before a single inmate had been incarcerated at the maximum security jail.

In what has been lashed as gross government waste, hundreds of staff were employed at the $1.11bn, 1248-bed Western Plains Correctional Centre near Geelong for 18 months before it started officially taking prisoners last month.

New figures show 92 staff were first employed for operational readiness activities in January 2023, just two months after construction was completed in November 2022.

By December last year the ghost prison workforce had increased to 120 employees before an explosion of staff were recruited taking that number to 282 in April when it was forced to take its first intake of 20 prisoners ahead of schedule due to a suspected carbon monoxide leak at Barwon Prison.

The new employee figures were revealed in documents produced to the Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee probing this year’s state budget.

The budget included a $700m expansion package to create almost 100 new beds at children’s prisons and fast-track 300 beds at adult jails.

It also funded the extension of an $8000 sign-on bonus scheme to attract new prison guards at select prisons.

Western Plains will serve as Victoria’s new maximum security prison. Picture: Nadir Kinani

Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan told PAEC staffing Western Plains for 18 months ahead of prisoners being housed at the prison was essential for “delivering 24/7 core security and emergency response, ensuring that the internal facility, its perimeter and external buildings remained secure, and the internal facility remained sterile through gatehouse operation and barrier control processes.”

“This is necessary for the safety and security of the facility, staff and prisoners,” he said.

He said it was also necessary to provide “proactive and reactive facility and asset maintenance” and to establish “a team to support workforce learning and support, and use of Western Plains as a training facility.

Mr Erdogan said the spike in staff numbers from July last year followed an Allan government announcement that inmates would start filling the prison from mid-2025.

But Opposition corrections spokesman David Southwick raised concerns about government wastage.

“Labor’s priorities are all wrong. While violent offenders walk our streets and frontline police are stretched thin, they’re spending millions hiring guards to watch over an empty prison. This isn’t just wasteful, it’s dangerous,” he said.

“This is classic Labor – all spin, no substance. They build a billion-dollar prison, fill it with staff but no inmates, and call it a success.

“Meanwhile, frontline staff are crying out for help, existing facilities are crumbling, and community safety is going backwards.”

The Western Plains facility had sat empty for almost three years at an estimated cost of $35m per year. Picture: Nadir Kinani

In 2023, the Herald Sun revealed the $420m youth prison built to house some of the state’s most challenging youths had also sat empty since being built.

The Cherry Creek Youth Justice Centre was completed in June 2022 last year, but more than six months later was yet to house a single youth in the 130 bed facility.

Taxpayers were again forking out for maintenance and security staff to monitor the site which was operational.

Latest data from the Productivity Commission shows Victoria had the lowest prisoner capacity utilisation rate _ the extent to which a facility’s available space is occupied by inmates.

It showed a rate of 70.3 per cent compared to 80.6 per cent in NSW and 95.6 per cent in Queensland across all prisons in 2023-24.

At the same time it was spending more per prisoner per day, $445, compared to both of those states with NSW at $316 a day and Queensland $270 a day.

The Western Plains facility had sat empty for almost three years at an estimated cost of $35m per year.

By the end of the year, 900 prisoners, including some of the state’s worst criminals, are expected to be transferred to the new prison.

Originally published as Hundreds of staff hired at Western Plains Correctional Centre before prisoners arrived