April 2010
Parklea joins GEO family
Parklea Correctional Centre joined The GEO Group Australia late last year following the company’s successful tender for the contract to manage the facility. A maximum security remand prison, Parklea holds up to 823 male inmates.
Located in suburban Sydney, 40 kilometres north west of the central business district, the centre incorporates a low security work release centre for up to 80 inmates. There is also a 96-bed therapeutic community unit for offenders undertaking cognitive behavioural programs.
Parklea received its first inmates as a maximum security facility in November 1983.The centre was reclassified to medium security in the early 1990s and was designated as a facility for young offenders in 1992. In 2001 Parklea was reclassified to maximum security and inmate numbers were expanded in 2003 when Area 5 was opened to house an additional 222 inmates.
GEO assumed responsibility for operations at 6.00am on 31 October last year, the handover representing the first time an operational publicly managed prison in Australia had been transferred to private management.
The transition was supported by the temporary transfer of 20 staff from other GEO centres and the immediate introduction of the company’s management structure and security guidelines.
In response to a parliamentary question the NSW Minister for Corrections John Robertson described the transition as “hugely successful”.
GEO has embraced existing initiatives at the centre, including the industries program and a support scheme for prisoners’ children. The company has also begun an extensive renovation schedule and highlighted cultural awareness as a vital part of its future management program.
“Transition was extremely smooth,” said The GEO Group Australia managing director Pieter Bezuidenhout. “It was a credit to the planning of the GEO team and the support of the Parklea administration and Corrective Services NSW.
“Parklea Correctional Centre has entered an exciting new era as the second privately managed correctional facility in the State and we extend a very warm welcome to the centre’s 145 employees as new members of the GEO family.”
Outback ‘in-car-ceration’
How would you feel about travelling around outback Australia in a 1984 station wagon with three of your workmates? Sound like fun? It is even better when you are touring with 46 other four-wheeled ‘dinosaurs’ and their outlandish crews and even more rewarding when you are raising money for Cystic Fibrosis Australia.
Four GEO colleagues, three from Junee and the other from head office, recently enjoyed the many highs and occasional lows of the Australian outback thanks to the support of GEO and their sponsors as well as the skills of four Junee inmates.
In the cleverly named ‘In-car-ceration’ they beat home half the fleet in The Great Escape, a charity motoring rally, which travels picturesque, unique and challenging outback roads — including some with treacherous river crossings — in cars that must be more than 20 years old. Four-wheel drives are banned just to add to the fun.
The GEO team began hunting for an appropriate car early last year and a dilapidated 25-year-old Commodore wagon was discovered via eBay 500 kilometres away and arrived at Junee to numerous raised eyebrows. It was handed over to a team of four inmates for panel beating, spray painting, outfitting and the installation of a reconditioned engine.
GEO’s Michael Rumble, Brett Hunt, John Philpot and Bruno Malacco — selected by ballot from more than 20 volunteers — then took over. A few training runs and they were ready for the challenge.
After 10 memorable days, 4000 kilometres and nine nights sleeping under the stars they finished The Great Escape and in the process raised more than $8000 for research into cystic fibrosis, the most common genetic disease suffered by children in Australia.
The highlights? “Our fellow competitors and the people we met along the way,” said Bruno Malacco. “Some towns only had about 200 residents so when we arrived everyone came to see us and have a chat.” The lowlights? “The dust, the dust and the dust. The red dust got into everything. You were covered in it,” he said.
Green thumbs in Brisbane
The Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre is playing a vital role in the greening of Brisbane. Employees are supporting Brisbane City Council’s initiative to plant two million trees throughout the city by 2012.
A large contingent of Arthur Gorrie colleagues and their families recently gathered at the Wolston Creek bushcare site to participate in ‘Plant a Tree’ day. Two hours later 880 trees had been planted by the Arthur Gorrie contingent. Assisted by children as young as three it was a rewarding environmental exercise for everyone and staff are looking forward to future Plant a Tree days around Brisbane.
The centre has also established a partnership with Habitat Brisbane, another Brisbane City Council initiative that involves 126 volunteer bush care groups operating throughout the city to restore local creeks, waterways and parks.
Arthur Gorrie’s commitment involves promoting awareness and educating prisoners, including teaching them how to propagate and nurture seedlings that are donated to Habitat Brisbane for distribution and planting. General manager Greg Howden recently presented more than 1000 rare native plants to Habitat Brisbane.
Arthur Gorrie is considering expanding the program to include the propagation of native trees and shrubs, giving prisoners valuable experience for possible future employment in the nursery industry while providing bushcare groups with an extensive range of native plants.
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