Lockyer Valley Correctional Centre, Queensland’s biggest prison, nears completion

A prison with “no bars on the windows” is how Queensland’s new 1,536-bed Lockyer Valley Correctional Centre (LVCC) is being described on its website.

The high-security men’s prison just outside Gatton is in the final stages of construction and is expected to open at the end of the year.

Queensland Corrective Services Acting Deputy Commission Adam Black said the rehabilitation is central to the philosophy of the facility, which will be Queensland’s largest.

“Research has shown that where you have a facility that has open spaces, light, in combination with the health and rehabilitation opportunities that we’re providing, it encourages better behaviours within the prison,” he said.

Corrective Services Minister Nikki Boyd said the prison would not have a “rack ’em and stack ’em” approach, despite housing more inmates than was originally expected.

“We’ve got pressures on our prison population right across the state right now,” she said.

“Our facilities are full.

“This is a needed facility that we’re keen to maximise as soon as it’s ready to go.”

‘Worthwhile investment’

Ms Boyd said to ensure community safety an additional $25 million was being invested in the facility and a 0.5 per cent contingency would be included in the budget.

“It’s a very worthwhile investment — we know that having a rehabilitative prison makes a difference,” she said.

More than 800 staff, including custodial officers and trade instructors, will be required to operate the facility round the clock.

Those who have already been hired are being deployed to other correctional centres until LVCC opens.

Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan said the prison created new career opportunities in the mostly agricultural region.

“The community has really embraced the prison that we have here,” she said.