Bathurst Correctional Centre

Correction facilities were first established in the Bathurst town centre in circa 1830, as the Bathurst Gaol, adjacent to the Bathurst Court House, also designed by Barnet. As sanitary conditions at the town watch house deteriorated, a new jail was built to Barnet's designs. The old jail was demolished in 1889. The jail was proclaimed on 7 June 1888, and built at a cost of just over 102,000 pounds. The hand-carved sandstone gate at the new jail featured an ornate sculptured lion's head holding a key that is a Victorian symbol designed to impress wrongdoers with the immense power and dignity of the law. Legend has it that when the key falls from the lion's mouth, the prisoner are allowed to go free. The new building which contained 308 cells and "commodious workshops" was complete and partly occupied in 1888. This was one of a number of jails rebuilt or enlarged in this period, the purpose of which was to commence the program of 'restricted association' of prison inmates. The Governor of the Bathurst jail reported on restricted association as follows: The jail generally accommodated prisoners where they "were deemed amenable to reformative influences" up until 1970 where the jail was reclassified as a maximum security prison. The hangings at the old or new jails included: • Monday 3 December 1866, an individual known as Spider, following a conviction for rape, and sentenced to death. • 27 May 1868, a double execution occurred for separate offenders who were escorted to the gallows before the executioner Bull. • Wednesday morning, 29 November 1893, Herbert Edward 'Bertie' Glasson, following a double–almost quadruple—murder at 2:30 am on 24 September 1893 at Carcoar of the City Bank manager, and a 24-year-old visitor, injuring the manager's wife and baby. Glasson was the first hanging in the new 1888 jail. By December 1894, executioner Bull had been replaced by Howard and his assistant Goldrick, who undertook the second hanging in the new jail. The last executions were of Sydney Twelve members Frank Franz and Roland Nicholas Kennedy on Wednesday 20 December 1916 for the murder of a police constable. The death penalty for all offences in New South Wales was removed in 1985. Riots The Bathurst riots and Bathurst batterings were a series of violent disturbances and reprisals that occurred at the jail in October 1970 and February 1974. The second outbreak of violence led to the partial destruction and temporary closure of the prison, and ultimately to a Royal Commission into the State's prison system. The 1980 film Stir is based on the 1974 riots at the prison. Name change Between 1992 and 1993, the name of Bathurst Gaol was changed to Bathurst Correctional Centre. == Description ==

Bathurst Gaol is composed of a square compound with a gatehouse and two watch towers located at the far corners. The Governor and Deputy Governors Residences are located outside the main compound walls. Internally the (now demolished) chapel formed the focus of the jail. Four cell ranges and the cookhouse radiated out from the chapel. On one side of the chapel forecourt was the totally separated female compound. On the other side was the male hospital. Bathurst and Goulburn jails were almost identical in plan. Goulburn however remains more intact. == Heritage listing ==

Bathurst Gaol is significant as one of two model prisons designed by the Colonial Architect's Office in the late 1870s and early 1880s; as an indication of advances in penal architecture in the late nineteenth century; for its continued use as a jail. Bathurst Correctional Complex was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. == Industries ==

Inmates at the Centre may be employed in Corrective Service Industries (CSI) food services, the commercial laundry, technology/packaging and packaging business units. Inmates can also do general ground, horticulture, cleaning and building maintenance work on and outside the complex. CSI also operates the Girrawaa Creative Centre, which was established in 1998. It employs around 15 Indigenous inmates at a time. The program is aimed at developing inmates' artistic skills while creating Aboriginal artefacts for sale. Pieces such as boomerangs, paintings, coasters, clapsticks and didgeridoos are produced for sale to the public directly from the gallery, online, to government agencies, and to wholesalers. ==Notable prisoners==

• Rodney Adler disgraced Australian businessman and former company director • Jim McNeil (James Thomas McNeil) – violent criminal who became better known as the 'prison playwright' • Bob Merritt, Aboriginal writer, who wrote the play The Cake Man in the prison • Michael Murdoch, convicted in the murder of Anita Cobby == References ==