IN five years, Prison Officers Vocational Branch State Executive Chair Steve McMahon said the prison population will hit 16,000 across NSW.

There are some 260 full time custodial officers employed by the Goulburn Correctional Centre.

Inmate numbers exceed 550.

Data collected and published for a Department of Justice report released in April this year listed each NSW prison by design capacity and current operational capacity.

For Goulburn Correctional Centre, built in 1885 with a design capacity of 321, the general prison was running at 399.

The Goulburn X-Wing (MPU and Unit 5) was running at capacity, as was the High Risk Management Centre.

“I would be comfortable in saying (the alleged escape) came down to a strained system,” Mr McMahon told the Post.

“(The government) downsized the system to accommodate for 9400 prisoners about five years ago. Along with that was the staffing cuts and since then we’ve seen numbers balloon.

“There has been no new investment in new real estate for new jails or any extensions to any existing jails. (The Government) still haven’t really indicated what their future plans are. They say they will build a new jail in Grafton but that is at least five years away, and by the time we get to that the prison population is tipped to be about 16,000.

“I think what we’ve seen happen is one of the indicators the system is at a breaking strain.”

He hoped staffing would be a key element in this week’s prison security review.

The ‘Fullhouse’ report, released by Inspector of Custodial Services J.R Paget, said the rapid growth of the state’s prison population was a “concern”.

“Throughout 2014 the growth of the inmate population and consequent overcrowding in NSW correctional centres attracted political, public and media comment. The growth has continued into 2015,” the report read.

“The risks inherent in prison overcrowding are well documented, but in NSW these latent risks are exacerbated by a range of other factors.”

These included budget pressures, quality of life, staffing and design capacity.

At the time of the report inmate population had risen to 11,399, while available bed space was only 10,960.

Across the state, 21 of 44 correctional centres were operating over capacity. To accommodate, many prisons had begun ‘doubling up’ inmates in a single cell.

“Inmates and staff in NSW correctional centres are under significant stress, and prudent policy makers would recognise that even small additional pressures can make the difference between conditions that are uncomfortable and those that are intolerable,” the report said.