Yatala to go for new homes

[rogue]

YATALA TO GO FOR NEW HOMES

EXCLUSIVE: GREG KELTON, STATE POLITICAL REPORTER
September 21, 2006 12:15am

Article from: The Advertiser

YATALA Prison, Northfield Women's Prison and the Magill Youth Detention Centre will be closed within five years and the land sold off for housing in a $500 million program to build four prison facilities in the state.

Three new jails - one for males and one for females and a pre-release centre - will be built at Mobilong, on the outskirts of Murray Bridge.
A new youth detention centre also will be constructed at Cavan in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

The land on which the current jails are located - prime real estate at Northfield and Magill - will be opened for housing.

Thousands of construction jobs are predicted. Murray Bridge will benefit with up to several hundred permanent jobs created.

The planned correctional services program, costing $517 million, will be part of a major capital works and infrastructure program to be unveiled today by Treasurer Kevin Foley in his fifth State Budget.

Mr Foley said all the facilities would be built in the next five years as public private partnerships. "The Government has decided to embark on a major reform of the prison system," he said.

The new 760-bed male prison will replace the current men's prison at Mobilong at a cost of $315 million.

It will be twice the size of Yatala, which is overcrowded with about 500 prisoners in a jail originally designed to hold only 341.

Yatala cannot be closed until the new men's prison is completed at Mobilong.

Near to Mobilong, the Government will build a new women's prison of 150 beds to replace the outdated women's prison at Northfield which has been condemned by inmates, visitors and even Parole Board chairwoman Frances Nelson, QC, as being of "third world standard".

Mr Foley said the women's prison would cost $96 million and would have 58 extra beds over the current capacity at Northfield.

Mr Foley said the men's and women's jail at Mobilong would have "appropriate separation".

He said the new pre-release centre, currently operating out of Yatala, would be built at Cavan at a cost of $27 million with an 80-bed capacity. The Magill Youth Detention Centre would also close and a new juvenile facility costing $79 million would be built at Cavan near an existing youth detention centre.

Part of the construction contract will include the provision of bus services for prisoners appearing in court and relatives wishing to visit the prisons.

Premier Mike Rann said the Government had considered putting the youth centre at Mobilong but had deliberately made a decision to "separate the youth prison at Cavan from the older jail population at Mobilong". "We didn't want to establish a university for budding criminals," he said.

He said some buildings at Yatala would have to be retained for heritage purposes but large tracts of land would be freed up for investors and the community.

Mr Rann said it would mean an end to these "appalling facilities" being parked in the middle of our suburbs. "We want to move our prison system out of the 19th Century to the 21st Century," he said.

"The Government moved to toughen penalties and crack down on crime in our first term in office," he said. "Now we are investing in extra prosecutors and in our prisons as well.

"People have been criticising us for not spending enough on infrastructure. This will be a huge boost to our construction industry."

The Public Service Association has repeatedly warned of looming problems in the prison system if outdated facilities at Yatala and the women's prison are not replaced. PSA general secretary Jan McMahon said yesterday if there was no provision in the Budget for new correctional facilities, the situation in the state's prison system would become critical.

"You can't have an extra 400 police being put on the beat without extra staff within the justice system," she said.

"It will just lead to overcrowding in the prisons and unless there are some long-term plans, the situation will get out of hand."

Opposition corrections spokeswoman Michelle Lensink said there had been more than two years of promises of major restructuring of the state's prison system.

"Still the community has yet to see any confirmation of capital works projects except for the completion of Mobilong," Ms Lensink said.

"Continued neglect of our prisons places prisoners at risk and increases the likelihood of re-offending.

"It also compromises the safety of corrections employees as highlighted last month with the discovery of make-shift weapons at Yatala."

[Howie]

Prime real-estate alright. It is good to see that the Rann government recognises that anything past grand junction road is no longer considered the sticks. Great vision, the government should be commended for this bold move.

[AtD]

There's practically houses on the prison walls now anyway.

[Ho Really]

There's practically houses on the prison walls now anyway.

Well said. Moving the prisons was inevitable, it was only a matter of funding for the replacements.
Cheers

[crawf]

Its about time Yatala gets closed down and a bigger and better prison gets built in the country, tho Murray Bridge residents might not like this outcome.

There's practically houses on the prison walls now anyway.

I read a article in the tiser a couple of months ago and it said that guy who raped and murderd that ch9 newsreaders 15year old son can see children playing in their backyards from his cell. - scary stuff

[rhino]

Murray Bridge residents might not like this outcome.

I hear the Farmers Federation this morning complaining that there's not enough of the budget's money going to rural areas. Murray Bridge is a rural area. It's not as if prisoners are escaping from jail all the time. It's not as if the jails are going to be in the centre of town - they'll be out at Mobilong, several km away. The amount of work created, with it's flow-ons, will bring people and more infrastructure to the city. I see it as a positive thing for Murray Bridge.

[crawf]

Jailbreak that sets free suburbs
RHIANNON HOYLE, REAL ESTATE EDITOR

September 23, 2006 12:15am

FOR years, their homes have lived in the shadow of prisons. Now, the residents of Northfield and Magill will be the centre of the state's newest boom suburbs.

The sale of Yatala Prison, Northfield Women's Prison and the Magill Youth Detention Centre, announced in this week's State Budget, will open up new land for the development of thousands of new homes.

This includes more than 3600 in the Northfield area.

The site of the two prisons and surrounding land, already owned by the Land Management Corporation, will be sold to developers.

The total site of 225ha will provide about 3680 allotments.

The addition of the Northfield land will boost the amount of government-owned land available for housing development in the metropolitan area to 300ha.

That is valued at about $200 million. Under the $500 million planned correctional services program, the Magill Youth Detention Centre also will be sold for a residential estate.

The demolition of the complex will free up 17ha of land but not all of it is useable because of creeks running through the site.

A government spokesperson said no estimates had been worked out for its value.

Urban Development Institute of SA president Peter Jackson said he was "sure there would be a number of developers keen to pick up the land". He said the announcement of a replacement site for both prisons – at Mobilong near Murray Bridge – was a positive move toward getting the land developed after years of discussions.

"The government has been talking for years about replacing the men's and women's prisons," he said.

"I think this might then be a step toward that.

"And if they are not going to use the land for its current use, then it is well suited for housing.

"It would fit in ideally with all the housing they have allowed to be developed around those areas."

The Northgate and Walkley Heights developments have swallowed much of the vacant land around Yatala over the past decade.

The median price for a vacant block in Northfield, where 27 allotments were sold last year, was $121,500.

In Magill, where 15 vacant blocks were sold, it was $195,000.

With land supply problems causing a stir across the city, Housing Industry Association state executive director Robert Harding was happy to see further residential land would become available within the metropolitan area.

"Bearing in mind both of those areas are reasonably well serviced by infrastructure, they won't face some of the problems faced by greenfield development," he said.

Despite the shortages in skilled labor, however, Mr Harding said he was sure there would be enough tradespeople to meet the requirements of both developments when brought to the market.

Northern suburbs real estate agent Sharon Norman described the plans as "very exciting".

She expected the values in Walkley Heights and Northfield to experience an immediate rise because of the Budget announcement.

"It's such fantastic news for everyone in the area," Ms Norman, of Ray White Northgate, said. "I think we will see an effect from this straight away."

She said potential buyers long had been reluctant to buy in the area because the future of the site was so uncertain. "People would always ask us what was going to happen; whether the jail was going to get moved," she said.

"We didn't know. But now it is so exciting – it's really going to happen.

"Now people can buy, safely knowing it won't be there in five years' time."

[rhino]

I wonder what the chances are of the old Northfield Railway Line being re-laid and extended into this new suburban area, maybe as light rail. Might even be a good opportunity to lay our first electric light rail line.

No, they'll probably be serviced by a few more smokin', stinkin' crowded busses.

[MaximumForce]

Anymore news / updates on this item? I'm hangin out to build a house at Magill, when this land opens up.

[Ho Really]

Anymore news / updates on this item? I'm hangin out to build a house at Magill, when this land opens up.

Should get reasonable views from there.

Cheers

[jimmy_2486]

Thank god for that....they got some nice areas around there but no one wants to buy them cos of the prison.