By Jena Carr and AAP
A new correctional facility in Lara will start accepting inmates next year but at the cost of the Port Phillip and Dhurringile Prisons.
The maximum-security Western Plains Correctional Centre will begin housing prisoners in mid-2025, more than two years after construction on the 1200-bed prison was completed in November 2022.
The 59-year-old Dhurringile Prison will close by September this year, and Port Phillip Prison will close by the end of 2025, Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan announced on Wednesday, June 26.
Mr Erdogan said close to 720 inmates from Port Phillip would be gradually transferred to the Lara correctional centre from the middle of next year.
“This is a unique opportunity to modernise the system and ensure we have a more efficient and effective facility for corrections,” he said.
“(It will) support a modern, safe and effective business system that is safer for the staff and for those in custody, which should mean safer for all Victorians.
“It’s about setting up the future of our corrections system…and the new prison will have programmes that are focused on reducing the risk of reoffending.”
Mr Erdogan said the Lara facility would employ up to 600 staff, including staff from the Port Phillip and Dhurringile Prisons and new recruits.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity to set up our correction system and set it up for the long term, for the future of our state,” he said.
“We’re also running a more effective and efficient system, which will raise the utilisation of beds from 70 per cent to approximately 90 per cent, which has been our problem.
“Having facilities such as this in the community, particularly in the greater Geelong region and Lara, is a great source of employment and there’s opportunities for businesses to work with corrections.”
The Port Phillip maximum-security facility has been open since September 1997 with a capacity of 1087 inmates and is operated by G4S.
The state government’s contract with G4S was renegotiated in 2015 to extend beyond 2017 for up to 20 years, and it is unknown at this time if breaking the contract will cost taxpayers.
