Ahead of Victoria's November 28 election, experts warn that the next state government will likely face costly expansions or new prison builds as both major parties campaign on strict law-and-order platforms.
Victorian prisons are currently operating at 92 per cent capacity, housing thousands of sentenced inmates and individuals on remand. With Premier Ben Carroll leading the Labor government's tougher laws and the opposition Coalition, led by Jess Wilson, promising an even harsher approach to justice, corrections capacity is expected to be severely tested.
Neither major party has directly detailed whether they have budgeted for the necessary increase in prison beds and corrections staff to support their crime pledges. Building new facilities carries significant costs, illustrated by the recently constructed Western Plains maximum-security prison near Lara, which cost $1.19 billion, while Port Phillip Prison closed last year.
Arie Freiberg, former chair of the Sentencing Advisory Council, cautioned that increased police numbers and stricter rules create heavy flow-on costs across the entire justice system, potentially forcing more individuals into police cells and already busy courts. Conversely, Swinburne University law professor Mirko Bagaric argued that targeted investments in prison infrastructure are necessary to address the state's rising crime concerns by ensuring violent and sexual offenders are properly detained.
