List of prisons in Australia

This is a list of operational and former Australian prisons for adult males and females and youth detention centres for juveniles. Prisons listed as "museum" are former prisons that are now open for public inspection and tours.

Throughout the European history of Australia, particularly since its formation as a penal colony, Australia has had many establishments for rehabilitation and incarceration. Altogether, there have been more than 180+ rehabilitation centres, youth correctional centres and prisons in Australia.

Australian Capital Territory

Belconnen Remand Centre

A new prison was opened on 11 September 2008 at Symonston, called the Alexander Maconochie Centre, named after Alexander Maconochie. The centre is designed as a multi role facility to replace the Belconnen Remand Centre and provide detention facilities so that prisoners who are currently held in New South Wales facilities may be held locally.

New South Wales

Main entrance of Goulburn Correctional Centre, with buildings designed by the Colonial Architect, James Barnet in 1884

Watch tower at Long Bay Correctional Centre at Malabar.

Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre in Wagga Wagga.

The following list of operational and closed correctional facilities has been sourced from the Corrective Services NSW and from the State Records archives.^[4][5]

^a Cooma commenced operations on 1 November 1873 with 31 cells. In 1876 it was reduced to a Police Gaol and then a temporary Lunatic Asylum in 1877. The Centre closed temporarily in the early 1900s. The Gaol reopened on 8 March 1957 and was again closed 10 July 1998. Cooma Correctional Centre reopened for the second time in November 2001.

^b Maitland, now closed, had capacity for 400 inmates at its peak.

Northern Territory

Queensland

An aerial view of Boggo Road Gaol, Brisbane, circa 1954.

South Australia

Main Entrance to the former Adelaide Gaol, now a museum.

Rear of Yatala Labour Prison, showing walls and watchtower, in 2008.

Prisons in South Australia are managed by the South Australian, Department for Correctional Services apart from the Mount Gambier Prison which is managed by GSL Group.

Tasmania

Construction of expanded facilities at HM Prison Risdon, pictured in 2006

Victoria

HM Prison Dhurringile, a minimum security centre.

Victoria Prisons map

The former HM Prison Geelong, closed in 1991.

HM Prison Loddon in Castlemaine.

The Old Melbourne Gaol in Russell Street, Melbourne.

Façade of the former HM Prison Pentridge, located in Coburg.

Adult Prisons and correctional facilities in Victoria are managed by Corrections Victoria. Two prisons are privatised and managed G4S Australia Pty. Limited and GEO Group Australia Pty. Limited. Youth detention centres are managed by Dept of Human Services

Victorian Prisons are mostly located in Regional Victoria. The Prison system is relatively modern with the closure of the last of the "old" gaols in 2005. Bendigo and Won Wron were the last to be closed. Beechworth Prison was closed in 2004 but replaced with Beechworth Correctional Centre in 2005. New prisons are being built or planned at Ararat and Ravenhall. Many prisons have had recent expansions in terms of bed numbers.

At 30 June 2015, there were 4,769 sentenced prisoners and 1,413 unsentenced prisoners in Victoria, thus making a total of 6,182 prisoners. From those 6,182 prisoners, 5,762 were males (93%) and 420 were females (7%). Those numbers also include 480 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners, making them 8% of the total number of prisoners in Victoria.^[19]

In 2015, the average male prisoner in Victoria is:^[19]

• 35.5 years old
• born in Australia
• did not complete high school
• a history of alcohol and drug abuse
• single and unemployed at the time he entered the prison system
• sentence of three years in a medium security prison
• more likely than not to have been imprisoned previously

In 2015, the average female prisoner in Victoria is:^[19]

• 36 years old
• born in Australia
• single or in a de facto relationship
• likely to be a mother/primary care giver
• unemployed, home duties or on a pension before prison
• has a higher level of education than her male counterpart but still failed to complete high school
• sentence of less than two years
• likely to be in prison for the first time

At 30 June 2015, the total operational capacity for Victorian prisons was 7,093 and had a utilisation rate of 90.5%.^[19]

Melbourne Assessment Prison operational Maximum Corrections Victoria

Western Australia

Prisons and correctional facilities in Western Australia are managed by the Department of Corrective Services and private operators.

The main cell block of Fremantle Prison.

The gatehouse of Fremantle Prison by moonlight.

A typical cell in Fremantle Prison.

Other

For a list of immigration detention centres of the Australian government, see the list of Australian immigration detention facilities.

See also

• List of prisons
• List of Australian immigration detention facilities
• List of Australian psychiatric institutions
• List of Australian penal colonies
• List of Australians in international prisons

References