The reopening of part of Sydney’s Silverwater jail will deliver hundreds of extra beds amid record numbers of prisoners on remand, the state government says, as the prison officers’ union warns against “arrest[ing] our way out of domestic violence”.
The Minns government, responding to a surge in prisoners awaiting trial since domestic violence bail laws were tightened, announced on Monday it would spend $47.1m to recommission the 515-bed Dawn de Loas correctional centre at the Silverwater complex by early next year.
