Francis Greenway Correctional Complex, formerly John Morony Correctional Complex is an Australian

minimum security prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

complex for males and females located in Berkshire Park, south of Windsor in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. The complex is operated by

Corrective Services NSW Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) is an executive agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia. CSNSW is responsible for the state's prisons and a range of programs for managing offenders in the community. The state has 36 prisons, 33 ru ...

, an agency of the

Department of Communities and Justice The New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice, a department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsible for the delivery of services to some of the most disadvantaged individuals, families and communities; and the administr ...

, of the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

. The complex comprises three separate correctional facilities, two for men and one for women: the John Morony Correctional Centre; the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre (formerly Outer Metropolitan Multi Purpose Correctional Centre); and Dillwynia Correctional Centre.

History

The complex was originally named after a former

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

, John Morony, who rose up through the ranks from a prison officer to become Comptroller General of the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services. He retired in 1971 and took up a position on the New South Wales

Parole Board A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdiction ...

, which he had been instrumental in setting up. The complex is built over the former boys' home Daruk Training School, also known as Daruk Boys' Home, Dharruk Boys Training School and Daruk Training Farm, was built in 1960 at Windsor. Until its closure in approximately 1985 the home housed hundreds of

wards of the state Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pri ...

and

juvenile offender Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...

s of school age. During the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse, abuse was later found to have occurred at the institution. It served as an extension to Mount Penang Training School for Boys, also known as Gosford Farm Home, which housed older boys. On 7 May 2020, the complex was renamed the Francis Greenway Correctional Complex, after

Francis Greenway Francis Greenway (20 November 1777 - September 1837) was an English-Australian convict and colonial architect. After being convicted of forgery in England and subsequently transported to New South Wales, Australia (known then as New Holland) ...

, an English-born architect who was transported to Australia as a convict in 1814 and went on to become Australia's first government

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Description

The complex comprises three separate correctional facilities: the John Morony Correctional Centre, a medium-security correctional centre for men; the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre (formerly Outer Metropolitan Multi Purpose Correctional Centre), a minimum-security correctional centre for men; and Dillwynia Correctional Centre, a minimum/medium-security correctional centre for women. The complex accepts prisoners charged and convicted under New South Wales and/or Commonwealth legislation. Additional administrative units of Corrective Services NSW are located on-site including the Security & Intelligence Branch, the Specialised Training Unit, the Drug Detector Dog Unit and the Pre Release Programs Unit.

John Morony Correctional Centre

The John Morony Correctional Centre, an Australian low-security facility for male offenders, is located within the complex. The complex has a world-famous wildlife centre which gives inmates the chance to work with the NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) and Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services, caring for around 250 injured, orphaned and sick animals.

Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre

The Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre, an Australian minimum-security facility for male offenders, is located within the complex. A special program unit attached to the Centre, called the

RSPCA NSW RSPCA NSW is a not-for-profit charity operating in New South Wales, Australia, that promotes animal welfare.Dillwynia Women's Correctional Centre, an Australian low-to-medium-security facility for female offenders, is located within the complex. Dillwynia was opened in 2004 as the first purpose built female correctional facility in New South Wales and was specially constructed to meet the needs and demands of the increasing female population. The proposal to build Dillwynia had prompted great outcry from women's organisations, and led to the Legislative Council inquiry "The Select Committee on the Increase in Prisoner Population". A special program unit is attached to the Centre, called the Greyhounds as Pets Program. This collaborative project between Corrective Services NSW and Greyhound Racing NSW rehabilitates greyhounds for re-housing and offers specialised offender educational opportunities. The Greyhounds as Pets Program is conducted under the supervision of correctional officers who also have access to training and development opportunities related to animal studies.

Incidents

Nathan Reynolds, a 36-year-old Aboriginal man, died in the last week of his four-month sentence after an

asthma attack Asthma is a common chronic (medicine), long-term inflammation, inflammatory disease of the bronchiole, airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible Airway obstruction, airflow obstruction, and easi ...

in the minimum-security John Morony Correctional Centre (now part of the Francis Greenway Correction Complex) in Sydney in September 2018. The

coronial inquiry A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

showed that the prison staff's response was "unreasonably delayed", and contributed to his death.

References