Still, if you’re interested, the state government has Parklea jail up for tender. It’s likely to be a good earner. Last year each prisoner cost the NSW government $73,000. According to the Department of Corrective Services, Parklea held 813 prisoners as at June 2008, 733 of whom were in maximum security. Most were awaiting trial. A reasonable estimate is that the five year contract to run Parklea will be worth about $300 million.

It seems the privatisation move comes from two pressures: the state government looking for some free cash, and the growth of the NSW prison population.

There are now over 10,000 people in NSW who are in the custody of the Department of Corrective Services, up by 61% from 10 years ago.

Over 90% of prisoners in NSW are men. Most, 69%, have been previously imprisoned. The most represented age group are those aged between 25 and 34 years. Of those already sentenced and not eligible for appeal, 62% are serving sentences of more than two years.

The privatisation of Cessnock jail in the Hunter Valley is also underway. After planned expansions at Cessnock, Parklea and Cessnock will become the two major maximum security prisons in NSW, and each of them will be in private hands.

Next time you drive past a jail take a close look. Prominent on the gate will be the shield of the NSW Department of Corrective Services which incorporates, rightly, the coat of arms of the State of New South Wales.

NSW law requires the arms to be displayed wherever the authority of the State is being represented. Therefore, you’ll find this coat of arms displayed on our most important buildings: our parliament, our police stations, our courts, and our prisons.

The coat of arms at the gate of Parklea jail acknowledges the serious business of imprisonment. It tells us that the prison is owned by all of us, and that the people held in them are there because we as a society think this is the most appropriate way to punish and treat offenders. They are our responsibility. Imprisonment is serious business.

To me, too serious for outsourcing to the private sector for the purpose of turning a profit.

Professor Phillip O'Neill is the Director of the UWS Urban Research Centre.