Belconnen Remand Centre

Belconnen Remand Centre
Exterior of Belconnen Remand Centre in February 2009
Location in Australian Capital Territory
Location Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory
Coordinates 35°14′19″S 149°03′45″E / 35.2386°S 149.0626°E / -35.2386; 149.0626Coordinates: 35°14′19″S 149°03′45″E / 35.2386°S 149.0626°E / -35.2386; 149.0626
Status Closed
Security class Minimum to maximum / Remand / Male and female
Capacity 60 (in 2009)[1]
Opened 1976
Closed 2009
Managed by Custodial Operations in the ACT Corrective Services

Belconnen Remand Centre, or BRC, was an Australian remand custody facility located in Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The centre opened in 1976 and closed in 2009. At times, it held a small number of illegal immigrants.

When it was first established in 1976, the Belconnen Remand Centre was intended to hold around 16 people.[2] The centre's construction had been considered and approved by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Cabinet in 1973.[3]

Four men escaped the remand centre in July 1988 through a roof in the exercise yard.[4]

In December 1992, then ACT Attorney-General Terry Connolly flagged that the remand centre should be replaced, due to its outmoded architecture and the high operating costs identified at the time.[5]

The ACT Government made the decision to build a new prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, and to decommission the Belconnen Remand Centre, in 2003.[6]

A human rights audit of the operation of the Belconnen Remand Centre and other ACT correctional facilities was conducted in 2007, identifying issues to be avoided in the new Alexander Maconochie Centre, and matters to be improved in the meantime prior to the new prison's establishment.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Laverty, Jo (21 May 2009). "The Belconnen Remand Centre". Australian Broadcasting Commission.
  2. ↑ ACT Human Rights Commission 2007, p. 23.
  3. ↑ Ling, Ted, Prisons and remand centres, National Archives of Australia, archived from the original on 11 March 2014
  4. ↑ "Four escape remand centre". The Canberra Times. 19 July 1988. p. 3.
  5. ↑ Lamberton, Hugh (16 December 1992). "Govt looks at replacing Belconnen remand centre". The Canberra Times. p. 19.
  6. ↑ ACT Human Rights Commission 2007, p. 24.
  7. ↑ ACT Human Rights Commission 2007, p. iii.

Further reading

  • ACT Human Rights Commission (July 2007), Human Rights Audit on the Operation of ACT Correctional Facilities under Corrections Legislation (PDF), ACT Government, archived (PDF) from the original on 14 February 2014
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