RESIDENTS who live near Cessnock jail have blasted the state government for giving them just weeks to consider a plan that brings hundreds more of the state’s worst prisoners to their doorstep.
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Fairfax Media can reveal most of the 1000 new prisoners set to arrive at the expanded facility will be maximum security inmates – including murderers and rapists.
New details of the expansion – which emerged in a letterbox drop to residents – include the addition of “at least” 400 new beds for maximum security prisoners.
That comes on top of the construction of eight two-storey accommodation blocks set to house a further 320 maximum and 280 minimum security prisoners.
Residents are furious they have just two weeks to respond to the proposal that almost doubles the size of the prison.
Vicki West, whose home is about 300 metres from the jail’s front gate on Lindsay Street, echoed concerns raised by Cessnock mayor Bob Pynsent that the city’s infrastructure was incapable of sustaining the surge in prisoners.
Ms West said the time frame allowed to respond to the massive expansion was inadequate.
“It seems like they have already made up their mind,” she said. “We only just got it in the mail last week – they obviously don’t want any opposition to it.
“The extension adds even more maximum security inmates – sex offenders, murderers – surely we must get some sort of say.”
Ms West also said there needed to be consideration for the increase in traffic on Lindsay Street with a bigger prison population.
“The road is going to be worse than Pitt Street in Sydney,” she said.
Another resident, Chris Shipp, said the road was not wide enough to cope with current levels of traffic.
“If you walked down this street, I think you would find not one resident who doesn’t object to the traffic,” he said.
“It’s constant – you’ve got trucks, shift workers, and on weekends, when there’s visitation, it’s worse.”
Resident of 10 years Amanda Vickers said she felt “muted” by the consultation process, and was unaware how to raise her concerns.
Shontelle Lincoln had mixed feelings about the expansion, seeing positives in the creation of hundreds of new jobs, but admitting she felt uncomfortable with the number of new maximum security prisoners.
“If I was living on my own with my kids, I’d be very worried,” she said.
Cessnock MP Clayton Barr said it was “obscene” the government did not have to financially compensate the community in the same way a private developer had to.