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Report
Victorian government commits $272m in state budget for more prison beds after bail reform
ABC NEWS (Australia)
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5/18/2025
The state government will spend $727 million dollars on jails as it prepared for an increase in prisoners in the wake of its new bail laws. But the plan has come in for criticism by the Opposition, the Greens and social advocacy groups.
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00:01
Just outside Geelong, the maximum security Western Plains Correctional Facility has been
00:07
largely sitting idle since it was built two and a half years ago.
00:11
But it's finally ready to take prisoners.
00:13
I'm excited. It'll give us a chance to demonstrate the skills we've learned off Squad.
00:17
I feel pretty ready.
00:19
And it can't come soon enough with the prison system already under pressure.
00:23
Over the last 12 months we have seen an increase of over 20% in the adult system
00:27
and over 70% increase in the remanded population in the youth justice system.
00:32
With inmate numbers projected to increase further due to stricter new bail laws.
00:36
We have the toughest bail laws in the country.
00:39
The government is spending $727 million on 1,000 new adult beds,
00:44
88 new youth justice beds and expanding the $8,000 sign-on bonus for prison guards
00:50
to attract and retain staff. While the spending has angered some.
00:54
We tend to still focus on old and tired and failed strategies
00:59
like putting people into custody for extended periods of time.
01:03
It doesn't work, it never has worked and it won't work again.
01:06
The Labor Government in Victoria has their priorities all wrong.
01:09
Others say it's not nearly enough to protect officers.
01:13
We've got assaults occurring with excessive violence on a number of areas.
01:19
But we've also got gangs starting to emerge in the youth justice facilities.
01:22
So we see prison staff in a situation where they don't want to work in the prison system
01:27
because they don't feel safe, they don't feel supported and they're leaving in drives.
01:31
The Government says there will be stronger penalties for prisoners who assault staff.
01:36
Where a staff member has been assaulted there should be an expectation of additional prison time.
01:41
The Community and Public Sector Union says its members have sent a clear vote of no confidence
01:45
in the commissioner for corrections. They say prison staff face physical and verbal abuse every day.
01:51
It's certainly a welcomed announcement but we believe that there is still quite a lot to be done.
01:56
It's not a matter of just pulling people in off the street and putting them into a unit in a prison.
02:01
Prisoners will start being moved to Western Plains in July.
02:04
in July.
02:07
.
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