Current Operations
GEO Group Australia assumed responsibility for operations at 06.00am on 31 October 2009, the handover representing the first time an operational publicly-managed prison had been transferred to private management. In response to parliamentary questions in November 2009 the NSW Minister for Corrections, John Robertson, described the transition as 'hugely successful'. The transition involved GEO Group Australia seconding staff from its other prisons in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland. To ensure robust oversight of the transition process, and that GEO complied with its obligations Corrective Services NSW installed a team of senior staff on-site for the period of transition.
The financial impact of the privatisation of Parklea Correctional Centre was immediate with media reporting on 9 November that the correctional staff overtime budget across the NSW publicly-managed prisons had reduced by A$70,000 a day.
In January 2011, Ron Woodham, the Commissioner for Corrective Services NSW, ordered that GEO Group Australia move all 73 inmates from the minimum security at Parklea Correctional Centre as part of a "major security upgrade" following the espcape of three inmates from the minimum security facility. Following the installation of new perimeter fencing and a review of the classification of all minimum security inmates, the minimum security facility was reopened.
Read more about this topic: Parklea Correctional Centre
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