By Alesha Capone
Preparatory work has started at the site of the youth detention centre in Cherry Creek before construction of the $288.7 million facility officially begins.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said construction of the youth justice centre near was set to commence in the coming weeks.
“Preparatory works on the site have commenced, including the build of the 1.5km access road to the site from Little River Road,” she said.
Construction of the youth justice precinct is set to be completed by December next year, with the centre expected to become operational 2021.
The Cherry Creek Youth Justice Centre will include 224 beds for remanded and sentenced youths, a 12-bed mental health unit and an “intensive supervision unit” of at least eight beds.
The centre will house offenders aged between 10 and 21 years old.
Some inmates from the Parkville youth detention centre will be transferred to the Cherry Creek centre once it opens.
The facility will also have a school, vocational education training and horticulture and hospitality programs.
Plans for the youth detention centre, released last year, outlined that the centre would have “a humane system of detention by seeking to normalise the lives of young people consistent with community standards”.
The centre would have “an environment that is normal and as non-institutional as possible” and involve young inmate’s families and the community in their rehabilitation, the plans stated.
