NSW to add 1,000 prison beds as remand population hits record

PSA urges state-run domestic violence centres and dedicated courts

The New South Wales government will spend $47.1 million to reopen the 515-bed Dawn de Loas correctional centre at Sydney’s Silverwater complex by early 2027, Premier Chris Minns said on Monday. The recommissioning, paired with the return of Parklea correctional centre to public management next month and the fast-tracking of more than 360 beds there, will add nearly 1,000 beds to the state’s prison capacity.

Minns told reporters at Dawn de Loas on Monday that the expansion was “a necessary decision for NSW, [which] we believe in the long run will keep the public safe.” He added: “Not arresting people for violent domestic violence offences will not solve them either.”

The Public Service Association of NSW said the additional beds were “a response to a DV crisis that demands far more than extra prison capacity.” General secretary Stewart Little said: “We can’t just arrest our way out of domestic violence. Prison can contain someone who poses a serious risk. It cannot, by itself, protect a person before violence occurs or stop an offender returning to violent behaviour after release.”

The PSA has called for the government to run domestic violence services in-house through 15 centres across the state, alongside compulsory diversionary programs for alleged offenders on remand and dedicated domestic violence courts to address a backlog of cases.

The expansion responds to a surge in remand prisoners driven by bail law changes introduced after the killing of Forbes woman Molly Ticehurst in 2024 by her ex-boyfriend, who had been freed on bail a fortnight before the murder. On 11 September 2026, Daniel Billings was sentenced to 28 years in jail for Ticehurst’s murder. The reforms require serious alleged offenders to “show cause” as to why they should be released, and bar registrars from making bail decisions.

NSW prisons held 6,398 people on remand in September — 46% of the state’s adult prison population — according to the government. Minns said he could not make rehabilitation programs compulsory for prisoners on remand, while pushing back against critics of expanded incarceration. “People pitch these arguments as: ‘Look, it’s a waste of money to have the criminal justice system in place or to have long sentences for violent domestic violence offenders’. I don’t agree with that,” he said.

The expansion comes amid desperate calls for action on domestic and family violence after the alleged murders of three women and two children this month. The PSA called for “properly resourced” domestic violence programs for people leaving custody on parole, while Minns said the government had increased funding for domestic and family violence services.

Dawn de Loas temporarily closed in November 2022 amid a declining prison population and staff shortages during the pandemic. About 150 staff will be recruited to support the reopening in early 2027, according to the government.

Parklea is one of two privately managed correctional centres in NSW; Corrective Services NSW will resume management in October. The additional 1,000 beds, designated for minimum-security remand and sentenced prisoners, are intended to relieve pressure on Silverwater’s 24-hour Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre.

Corrections minister Anoulack Chanthivong on Monday ruled out closing Long Bay correctional centre’s Metropolitan Special Programs Centre (MSPC), where a 19-year-old remand prisoner took his own life in May. An independent watchdog had previously recommended the unit be closed, finding it “simply cannot provide a safe environment.”

The NSW opposition has proposed closing all of Long Bay to build 10,000 homes and upgrading Goulburn correctional centre in its place. Chanthivong confirmed the government had closed four Victorian-era wings at Goulburn that he said were “no longer fit for purpose.”