Loading In late 2017, just a month after Ravenhall opened its doors to be acclaimed as a cutting-edge facility, then Labor corrections minister Gayle Tierney labelled the former Liberal government’s policies - including double bunking - part of a “mad panic” in the corrections system that directly contributed to the 2015 MRC riot. Double-bunking cells has long been opposed by Corrections Victoria after an independent review linked it to a rise in violence between prisoners and against staff and unduly stretched resources. The official report into the 2015 MRC riot noted that expanding the facility’s population from 613 prisoners to 918 - achieved mainly through double bunking - helped spark the riot that involved 400 prisoners and caused more than $12 million in damage after a total smoking ban was introduced. The Sunday Age understands a significant number of the additional 300 inmates placed at Ravenhall this year will be housed through double bunking, which is colloquially called “stack and rack”.

In an interview with The Sunday Age, Corrections Minister Ben Carroll declined to confirm the size of the increase or how the additional inmates will be housed because the matter was still being negotiated with private operator GEO Group. “We’re trying to eliminate as much of that (double bunking) as possible. Part of all my submissions and all my budget lobbying was all about building additional capacity. That means new prison cells, jobs, employment and everything else that goes with it,” Mr Carroll said. A Ravenhall cell at the time of the prison's opening in 2017. Credit:Jason South The Andrews government earmarked $1.8 billion in the budget for capital spending on prisons, the centrepiece of which is a 1248-bed prison planned for outside Geelong. But given that facility will not be operational until late 2022 at the earliest, the Ravenhall expansion represents the single-biggest boost in capacity for the men’s prison system over the next three years.

A GEO Australia spokesman said the company was not able to comment because, “Corrections Victoria has pulled any Ravenhall comment under its umbrella". But the US-listed company announced to the stock market in June that it was in negotiations with the Victorian government about adding 300 beds to Ravenhall. The Sunday Age understands the deal is also controversial because of its potential impact on a performance bonus provision in GEO’s contract, which is dependent on the company reducing the recidivism rate of its inmates. In Victoria, about 43.7 per cent of prisoners return to custody within two years. GEO’s target is to reduce recidivism by 12 per cent for sentenced prisoners generally and 14 per cent for sentenced Indigenous prisoners.

Loading Julian Kennelly, spokesman for the Community and Public Sector Union, which represents Victoria’s prison guards, said the 300 additional inmates would have a definite impact on the operation of the facility and the experiences of staff and prisoners. “The increase to 1600 includes a significant amount of capital works, but they will be double- bunking the accommodation. There are always increased difficulties because they are not pushing the walls out - the new prisoners are absorbed by using up the designated recreation and open space. “It also means problems for the availability of programs for prisoners,” he said. The history of Ravenhall’s development has reflected larger problems with managing Victoria’s swelling prison population after more than a decade of tough law and order policies.

In mid-2012, the Liberal government announced it would build a 500-bed prison at Ravenhall that would include infrastructure to potentially hold double that number. That plan was obsolete by the time the tender was put to market in 2013, which now called for a 1000-bed facility with inbuilt expansion potential for 300 more. But by the time GEO Australia opened Ravenhall in late 2017 the state was in the midst of an unprecedented surge in the size of its prison population, which had nearly doubled in the past decade. Key factors have been the toughening of parole after Adrian Bayley raped and murdered Jill Meagher while on parole in 2012, and restrictive new bail laws introduced following the Bourke Street killings by James Gargasoulas in 2017. The swelling population of offenders in the system who could not get bail meant the government ordered nearly half of the beds at Ravenhall converted to house remand prisoners, which was a significant deviation from its intended purpose of focusing on

“innovative pre and post-release reintegration programs” for convicted inmates.

And just six months after Ravenhall was opened and filled to its 1000-person capacity, the Labor government was forced to activate its inbuilt expansion to house 300 more, taking the facility to its maximum built capacity of 1300 inmates. Now the Andrews government will insert 300 more beds inside Ravenhall’s walls, part of program announced in May to find enough beds to house the inmate population as it continues to rise. Forecasts obtained by The Sunday Age show the Andrews government expects prisoner numbers to soar from 8110 today to 11,130 by June 2023. The government has budgeted for inserting an additional 752 beds across 15 other correctional facilities in the state - including 106 beds at the female-only Dame Phyllis Frost Centre - as well as fast-tracked and expanded plans for the 1248 bed facility in Lara.