Junee should start receiving its first maximum security inmates as early as the beginning of next year as the Junee Correctional Centre’s expansion project progresses.
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The now 850-bed facility will be able to house an additional 480 inmates after the expansion, which is set to be completed late this year.
Some of the jail’s existing buildings will also be refurbished and extended, including the health clinic, kitchens, laundry, stores, and industries building.
Junee Shire Council general manager James Davis, who chairs a local committee that meets bimonthly to discuss the expansion’s impacts on the community, said one of the big wins of the project was the additional 130 jobs it would create.
“We’re working together to ensure that, when the recruitment phase starts for those 130 jobs, people are aware of Junee and what it has to offer as a place to live and work,” Mr Davis said.
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The jail already employs about 280 staff, with half of them hailing from the local area.
Mr Davis said the community committee, which includes key stakeholder groups such as the police and Junee Business and Trades, did not believe the expansion would bring about any negative impacts to the town.
“The relationship between the correctional facility and the community is a strong one – the correctional facility have approximately 50 registered sites that they provide inmate assistance to for maintenance and project work, and that realises great benefits for the community,” he said.
Construction began in April last year, and about 300 construction workers have been employed to build new perimeter fencing and temporary administration blocks.
The jail’s inmates are also contributing to the expansion, helping to install new modular cells in conjunction with Corrective Services Industries.
