Extra 1,000 prison beds announced in NSW as union warns against arresting ‘our way out of domestic violence’

Minns government to spend $47.1m to recommission part of Silverwater jail while PSA says prison alone will not end violent behaviour

The reopening of part of Sydney’s Silverwater jail will deliver hundreds of extra beds amid record numbers of prisoners on remand, the state government says, as the prison officers’ union warns against “arrest[ing] our way out of domestic violence”.

The Minns government, responding to a surge in prisoners awaiting trial since domestic violence bail laws were tightened, announced on Monday it will spend $47.1m to recommission the 515-bed Dawn de Loas correctional centre at the Silverwater complex by early next year.