By Michaela Whitbourn
A controversial plan to ease overcrowding in NSW prisons by reopening Parramatta jail has been scrapped by the Baird government, raising the prospect of more beds being squeezed into prisons already bursting at the seams.
The adult prison population hit a new record high of 12,390 in March, latest figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show.
The bureau says harsh new bail laws, which took effect in January 2015, are one of the factors that have contributed to a sharp increase in the prisoner population.
The government revealed in March that it was considering reopening the colonial-era Parramatta jail, which was closed in 2011, as part of a plan to deal with surging inmate numbers.
The Parramatta Correctional Centre was closed in 2011.Credit: Robert Pearce
Championed by the Minister for Corrections, David Elliott, the plan ruffled feathers both inside and outside government because it was at odds with its public rhetoric to transform Parramatta into "Sydney's dual CBD".
In November last year the government rezoned an historic 30-hectare site near the jail to allow for the construction of thousands of new apartments.
But on Thursday Mr Elliott withdrew the plan from cabinet's agenda.
"In the cold hard light of day, I could not reconcile the cost to taxpayer and the people of Parramatta with the benefit of reopening the prison for a short period of time," he said.
"However we still have a record prison population to house and we are going to continue with our plan to address the immediate shortage whilst ensuring the people of NSW never face this dilemma again.
"The government has funded more than 2,800 beds since March 2014 and is planning a new prison in Grafton as well as the expansion of Parklea."
The refurbishment of the jail would have cost up to $10 million, according to reports. The government reopened Kirkconnell jail near Bathurst last year, just three years after it was shut in late 2011, at a cost of $4 million.
The shadow spokesman on corrections, Guy Zangari, said: "When the Minister is seriously prepared to spend $10m to reopen the oldest existing jail in NSW then it's clear that the crisis that is gripping the state's correctional system is even greater than we first thought.
"His plan is now in tatters but his problem remains – how to deal with overcrowding in our prisons and how to reconcile the fact that it was largely of his government's own making."
An unprecedented surge in inmate numbers started in December 2014, before new bail laws took effect in January 2015 which made it harder for prisoners to be released on bail pending a trial. But BOCSAR says the bail laws have contributed to the increase in the prisoner population.
Corrective Services working documents obtained by the NSW Opposition show the government is considering putting three beds in some maximum security prison cells to deal with rising inmate numbers.