Liberal candidate Wendy Tuckerman toured the new Supermax facility under construction at Goulburn Jail on Wednesday.
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Work started last year on the $47 million project to expand the High Risk Management Unit from 45 to 75 beds and upgrade the Multi-Purpose Unit. Corrective Services NSW Prison Bed Capacity Program project director John Harrison said the two units would function as a combined high-risk facility and be renamed as HRMCC Areas 1 and 2.
Ms Tuckerman said more than 20 jobs would be added as a result of the addition and broader initiatives to reduce re-offending.
Last year, the Public Service Association was in dispute with Corrective Services about jail job cuts and a plan to redeploy some positions from the main section to the new complex. The Union could not be reached to clarify whether subsequent negotiations had resulted in a net gain of 20 jobs, as claimed.
Ms Tuckerman was impressed with the work.
“The Goulburn region welcomes the 20 additional jobs and investment in this facility as well as the support it provides to the officers working in one of the toughest environments in NSW,” she said.
“Goulburn Correctional Complex is a vital part of the local community with many prison officers and other staff living in the area and raising families.”
The unit will take inmates mid-year.
Mr Harrison described it as a vital part of state and national efforts to counter terrorism.
The $47 million project also includes an intelligence unit based at Silverwater Correctional Complex to combat radicalisation across all NSW prisons.
On Monday, NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott also toured the work and with Ms Tuckerman, visited Braidwood Road business, Pearson Engineering, which has supplied steel for Supermax 2.
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