ANY hopes the local community had of being able to use an unused 40-bed centre at South Nowra for the homeless during times of extreme weather, such as the last few days, appear to have been dashed.
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The Community Offenders Support Program (COSP) centre, built to provide accommodation for parolees heading back into the community, has been unused since the South Coast Correctional Centre opened in December 2010.
Nowra woman Tina Zalakos launched a petition calling on the NSW government to make the unused centre available to homeless people.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward toured the facility last week, with Corrective Services NSW saying due to rising inmate numbers in NSW prisons, consideration was being given to using the COSP to house minimum security inmates.
“An internal CSNSW review in 2012 found that some Community Offender Support Program facilities were underutilised and costly to operate,” a CSNSW spokesperson said.
“As a result some COSPs were closed and the one at Nowra, which had not yet opened, was handed over to the South Coast Correctional Centre in case it might be needed in the future.
“Due to rising inmate numbers in NSW prisons, consideration is being given to using the COSP to house minimum security inmates.
“Consultations are occurring with the local community over its future use, however negotiations are at an early stage.”
The spokesperson said the South Nowra jail currently houses “around 550 inmates”.
In a statement Corrective Services said the unit was also “occasionally used for staff training”.
The spokesperson said it would be inappropriate to even contemplate mixing minimum security prisoners with homeless people at the centre.
The Register understands if the centre was ever made available to the public, even though it is outside the jail complex, as it was still corrections property, the same rules as inside the jail walls would apply, with smoking, alcohol and mobile phones all banned.
