Full description
The acquisition of land for a Metropolitan Maximum Security Prison at Parklea was declared on 27 June 1979 and was vested in the Minister for Public Works for building to begin. (1) Parklea Prison was proclaimed on 19 October 1983. The prison was in the City of Blacktown, Parish of Gidley and County of Cumberland on an area of 75.6 hectares. (2)
The Prison was the product of a penal philosophy emerging from the Nagle Royal Commission. Parklea was designed upon the principle that officers were to manage prisoners with fundamentally changed status, the new gaol was designed to encourage the interaction with prisoners through small intimate units, and activity areas for skills acquisition. However, the challenges of the design were not acted upon by the Department's operational forces. (3)
Parklea Prison became known as Parklea Correctional Centre from 11 September 1992. (4)
Parklea was de-proclaimed on 7 February 1996 as a prison. On the same day the prison area was declared as Parklea Correctional Complex with an area of 60.8 hectares and the prison was re-proclaimed officially as a prison known as Parklea Correctional Centre on an area of 5.7 hectares within the complex. (5) At the creation of Parklea Periodic Detention Centre within the grounds of Parklea Correctional Complex on 6 September 2000, the Parklea Correctional Centre was held responsible for the Parklea Periodic Detention Centre. (6)
On 13 December 2000 Parklea Correctional Centre was revoked and on the same date was re-established with a smaller area of 6.209 hectares. (7) The area of the Correctional Centre was increased to 9.34 hectares within the Complex on 8 November 2002 and on 9 June 2006 to 8.84 hectares. (8)
The area of the centre was increased to 10.72 hectares on 24 November 2017 due to a new 150-bed minimum-security facility for male inmates, known as Area 4, that opened in November 2017. (9)
MTC Australia began operating Parklea Correctional Centre on behalf of Corrective Services NSW in 2019 as a private prison. It was one of two privately managed correctional centres in NSW. (10)
On Wednesday 11 March 2020 Area 5 was officially opened by the Hon. Anthony Roberts MP, Minister for Counter Terrorism and Corrections. In addition to 500 new maximum-security beds, this project included a clinic, AVL building, programs and industries building, recreational areas, refurbishment to the gatehouse and a new visits area. (11)
Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette No.87, 29 June 1979, p.3157.
2. New South Wales Government Gazette, No. 144, 21 October 1983, p.4777.
3. Grant, David " Prisons, The Continuing Crisis in NSW ", Federation Press, Sydney, 1992, pp. 64 – 69.
4. NSW Government Gazette No.115, 11 September 1992, p.6826.
5. NSW Government Gazette No. 20, 16 February 1996, pp. 677-679.
6. NSW Government Gazette No.117, 8 September 2000, p.10323.
7. NSW Government Gazette No.170, 20 December 2000, p.14067.
8. NSW Government Gazette No.210, 8 November 2002, p.6567; NSW Government Gazette No.75, 9 June 2006, p.4255.
9. NSW Government Gazette No.126, 24 November 2017, p.7114; Corrective Services NSW website, CSNSW History, https://correctiveservices.dcj.nsw.gov.au/csnsw-home/about-us/csnsw-history.html (accessed 21 February 2023).
10. MTC Australia website, About Us, https://www.mtctrains.com.au/about-us/ (accessed 21 February 2023).
11. Corrective Service NSW website, Parklea Correctional Centre upgrade, https://correctiveservices.dcj.nsw.gov.au/csnsw-home/correctional-centres/new-prisons/completed-projects/parklea-correctional-centre-upgrade.html (accessed 21 February 2023.
References
- New South Wales Government Gazette, Sydney, Government Printer, 1832–
- NSW Department of Corrective Services, "An analysis of NSW Prison Proclamations, compiled by Denis Fitzpatrick, Sydney, The Department, 1996".
- Grant, David "Prisons, The Continuing Crisis in NSW", Federation Press, Sydney, 1992.
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