Yesterday, your union and delegates met with Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) to discuss the projected temporary closures and streamlining of correctional centres and receive an update on progress.

Projected temporary closures

The following updates were provided:

Long Bay Hospital Decanting of selected areas of LBH will continue, without any impact on staffing.

Emu Plains was previously decanted following flooding and will remain closed for the next few months. The Mothers and Children Program will be remaining and CSNSW confirmed they are considering expanding the program.

Oberon will be decanted on a short term basis, with staff temporarily redeployed across the region.  CSNSW will discuss preferred deployments with affected staff.  The cohort at Oberon is likely to change.  The Young Adult Offender Program will be suspended until Oberon reopens, which is scheduled for July 2023

During the closure, Oberon will be given a refresh and infrastructure will be upgraded to allow for inmate tablets. All existing contracts with industries will be fulfilled.

Bathurst A wing was vacated a while ago to allow a cabling upgrade. No staff should be affected.

South Coast Correctional Centre Inmates from Sector 4 will be moved to Goulburn. No staff will be moved.

Dawn De Loas will have inmates moved out for a short period. Inmates employed by Corrective Services Industries will be moved to Mary Wade and attend work at DDL.

Meetings are taking place with affected staff, and PSA representatives will be included in consultation:

• CSNSW is not sure at this point if Community Corrections and Psychologists will need to move.
• Uniformed staff will move, most likely to Silverwater or MRRC.

Relocations

All staff who are required to move work locations as a result of these changes will be consulted and consideration will be given to employees’ needs. If you feel this is not occurring, please seek support from the PSA through our Member Support Centre.

There are no concrete timelines being provided at this time, but inmates will be decanted prior to staff being redeployed.

Project 800

While the above temporary closures are aimed at mitigating risks from staffing shortages, CSNSW expects to have employed the 800 new staff flagged to address the underlying issue of staff shortages by April or May 2023.