What Happens When A City Gets A Prison
Illawarra Mercury
Monday November 21, 2005
The state's jail population has doubled since Labor won power in 1995. Now the Government has embarked on a jail expansion program which will include a new 500-bed facility in either the Illawarra or Shoalhaven. In a two-part series, senior journalist PAUL McINERNEY looks at the impact of new jails in regional centres.
ALMOST 15 years ago, not everyone in Lithgow was happy with the news a maximum security jail was to be built on the outskirts of their quiet Blue Mountains township.The prospect of having the state's worst criminals as neighbours aroused significant anger and fear, particularly from residents who lived close to the proposed site.In the face of such opposition, the Greiner Liberal Government and the Department of Corrective Services undertook a public relations blitz.It was loaded with assurances on safety and security and promises of new jobs, new opportunities for Lithgow businesses and a major economic boost to the regional economy.In those days, the government did not enjoy the luxury of having rural and regional councils falling over themselves in a bid to gain the economic panacea a new jail would provide for their ailing towns.It made clear its determination to build the multi-million-dollar facility over any community objections.Lingering fears and uncertainty remained, but the Lithgow Correctional Centre was officially opened on December 7, 1990.Within less than a year, assurances on safety and security evaporated when a prisoner escaped, despite a sophisticated array of electronic surveillance, an inner perimeter topped with slash wire and a daunting, 15m-high concrete outer wall.Security systems were improved and, in the years since the escape, no other prisoner has managed the feat.There is now widespread community acceptance of the maximum security facility and the obvious economic benefits it has brought through extra jobs and the flow-on from an $11 million-a-year payroll.Yet, there has also been a degree of disillusionment over the failure of government and Corrective Services to match the promises made on the number of new jobs to be generated and level of local business opportunities associated with the maximum security jail."I know of only one or two Lithgow-based businesses which are now profiting from the jail's operations," Lithgow Business Association president Janelle Johnstone told the Mercury."Before it was built, the government and Corrective Services painted the jail as some sort of cash cow, but the reality and the expectations of the business community here have never really been met."Ms Johnstone, who has extensive business interests in the Lithgow area, believes there has also been a marked increase in the level of social problems which might be linked to the families of inmates (see separate story)."I see the social impacts every day and while I'm not certain it's because of the jail, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of disadvantaged people coming to the town," Ms Johnstone said.Lithgow Correctional Centre general manager Tom Breckenridge said he did not believe any social impacts the jail might have on the community were a big issue."Very few of the inmate families relocate to Lithgow, but there is always going to be people coming here to visit those housed in the jail," Mr Breckenridge said."Let's be honest, people pass through communities every day who have served time in a jail."Every area has its (social) problems at the moment and you can't always blame the jail."Mr Breckenridge said the jail had brought enormous benefits to Lithgow by providing jobs that brought in families, and these people in turn needed housing, clothing, food and schools.Jim Abberton has been a Corrective Services officer at Lithgow since it opened in 1990 and is also a pastor at the Lithgow Christian Fellowship. He, too, dismisses community perceptions of growing social problems in Lithgow since the jail was built."My wife and I regularly deal with the social ills and problems within Lithgow and I can tell you they have nothing whatsoever to do with this correctional facility," he said.Lithgow Mayor Neville Castle said the jail had provided a critical boost to the town's economy at a time when the coal and manufacturing industries in the area were either closing or shedding hundreds of jobs.He said up to 80 per cent of Corrective Services staff lived in the greater Lithgow area."Jails have become big business and there is now little or no stigma attached to towns which have one," Councillor Castle said.To show just how attitudes have changed, he pointed to Marrangaroo Fields - one of Lithgow's newest and most prestigious housing estates, which has sprung up within one kilometre of the jail."You can't believe how quick those 15 blocks were snapped up," he said.
© 2005 Illawarra Mercury