Notorious, scandal-plagued prison where guards are stabbed and inmates run wild to return to state ownership

One of Australia's most notorious prisons was sent back to State property after a seven years plagued by scandal of an American private prison company.

Parklea Correctional Center in West Sydney has been managed since 2018 by the Australian arm of the American private prisons MTC.

Under the scandals under management, a man was accused of the murder of his cell mate in March 2024, prisoners were charged after they had climbed the roof in July 2021 and riot teams had to be called in February 2022.

It is one of the largest prisons in the country, with a capacity for more than 1500 prisoners, and employs more than 400 people.

Those well -paid jobs must be protected when Parklea returns to NSW Government Management.

The existing $ 1.4 billion contract from MTC – which ends in March 2026 – will be extended by six months to leave time for the transition in October 2026, the NSW government said Sunday.

“We have had a strong boundary against privatization since we were chosen two years ago and we did it based on evidence, not based on feelings or ideology, but on the basis of facts,” Prime Minister Chris Minns told reporters.

“When it comes to fundamental, frontline basic services, they must be provided by NSW royal employees.”

The management of the Parklea Correctional Center by the Australian arm of the American private prisons operator MTC was marred by a riot on the roof in 2021 (photo)

Guards are looking for smuggling war in the infamous Parklea -prison in West -Sydney

“It is the best way to ensure that the taxpayers get for money where there is no contract and a middle man wants to see how the services are interpreted.”

Mr Minns also greeted 'Healthy sense … Operational model not based on a profit motif' as a victory for hundreds of essential employees in western Sydney.

It will be the second NSW prison that returns to public ownership after Corrective Services NSW will take over the management of Junee Correctional Center in April after a transition of 16 months.

The NSW -public sector is responsible for around 10,000 prisoners in 31 prisons.

The prime minister noted that the profile of prisoners in detention had changed considerably over the past 15 years with more hardened perpetrators in the system.

He said that a focus on rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners in the community would best be managed by experienced government employees instead of a profit-driven private operator.

Parklea employees have been strike several times in recent years to guarantee safe working conditions.

A parliamentary investigation discovered reports of guards who are stabbed, fighting clubs run by gangster, tobacco smuggling, a prisoner who was found dead after he was chained to his bed and another prisoner who set a fire with a damage of $ 8 million.

NSW Premier Chris Minns (photo) says' when it comes to fundamental, frontline basic services [like prisons]They must be provided by NSW -government employees'

Parklea (photo) is one of the largest prisons in the country, with a capacity for more than 1500 prisoners, and employs more than 400 people

The Public Service Association welcomed the move after it had been in long -term contract negotiations with MTC, who was more likely to blame for not protecting officers in Parklea.

'Corrective Services is an integral part of the criminal justice system. It is no different than the police or the courts. It plays a crucial role in that system, “said the Union's Stewart Little.

'You would not show that the police or the courts privatize. Why on earth would we do that at a corrective center? '

MTC also runs a detention center for refugees on Nauru in a $ 2.3 billion contract with the federal government.