KIRKCONNELL Correctional Centre will be officially brought back online on Thursday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The facility had been mothballed after the NSW Government’s controversial decision to close it down.
The jail’s demise in 2011 cost 20 staff members their jobs and sparked loud protests across the Bathurst and Lithgow regions.
Thursday’s recommissioning ceremony will include representation by some of the state’s top politicians, including Bathurst MP Paul Toole.
A minimum security complex, Kirkconnell’s $4 million upgrade will house up to 260 prisoners in 13 units.
It also means that 60 jobs will be returned to the facility as well as ancillary staff.
Bathurst MP Paul Toole said having the jail recommissioned came as a result of his constant lobbying to the former attorney general Brad Hazzard.
“When prisoner numbers started to increase again and more places were needed to house them, I made it a priority to push for Kirkconnell to be brought back online,” Mr Toole said.
He said when Kirkconnell closed, 12 staff took voluntary redundancies and 40 accepted positions at other jails, including Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon.
Mr Toole says the reopening followed staged expansions at centres including Long Bay and Lithgow, where 635 beds had been added.
He noted the government gave an assurance that Kirkconnell would be reopened if the prison population was to increase, and it had honoured that promise.
The correctional centre and grounds had been maintained since the closure.
“I’m pleased to see my lobbying of government ministers about getting Kirkconnell reopened has paid off,” Mr Toole said.
Bathurst Correctional Centre general manager Bill Fittler, who will oversee operations at Kirkconnell, said there was a real need for these additional beds as the number of inmates increases across NSW.
Mr Fittler said upgrading work at Kirkconnell was carried out by a combination of contractors and inmates.
He said there would be a strong focus on education and vocational training at Kirkconnell.
In addition, inmates will be exploring industry involvement, most likely the forestry industry.
“We will also return to doing community work with the people in Yetholme,” he said