Population growth and a tough-on-crime agenda have prompted the Napthine government to double the planned capacity of Ravenhall prison.
The medium-security male prison to be built in Melbourne’s west was initially announced as a 500-bed facility, with space to expand to 1000 beds in the future.
But Premier Denis Napthine said on Tuesday the jail – which will be one of the biggest in the country – would be built in a single stage as a 1000 facility because this was the cheapest way to complete the project.
He blamed the previous Labor government for failing to invest and plan for the future, attributing the increase in prison numbers to significant population growth, more police, and tougher sentencing laws.
“We make no apology for making our community safer,” Dr Napthine said. “We are a government that puts community safety as a very fundamental, high priority, so we take action through legislation, through the courts, and through having appropriate prison bed numbers to ensure that we can deliver and effective law and order agenda.”
The announcement follows a report by the Victorian Auditor-General in November last year that predicted prisoner numbers would surge by 45 per cent over four years, finding at the current rate the system would by unable to cope by 2016.
It also follows warnings that the system is already so crowded prisoners are being accommodated in holding cells with makeshift beds. Tougher parole laws are expected to place further strain on the system.
Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said the fact the government was funding the prison system ahead of the overstretched ambulance system showed its priorities were skewed.
The government has refused to disclose how much the expanded facility at Ravenhall will cost the budget, citing commercial-in-confidence restrictions. But Dr Napthine suggested the extra budgets would be funded from money already allocated in the budget.
Corrections Minister Edward O’Donohue vowed to continue with the current approach, pointing out that 560 new beds had already been opened since the government was elected, with 1985 now in the pipeline.
He said the May budget had included $131.5 million in extra funding for prisons, in addition to $670 million in 2012 for the Ravenhall facility and extra beds at existing prisons.
