St Heliers Correctional Centre

St Heliers Correctional Centre, an Australian minimum security prison for males, is located in Muswellbrook, New South Wales. The centre is operated by Corrective Services NSW an agency of the Department of Attorney General and Justice of the Government of New South Wales. The centre detains sentenced felons under New South Wales and/or Commonwealth legislation.St Heliers was responsible for the first mobile prison in New South Wales, operating until its cessation in 2003.HistoryThe property was originally settled by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dumaresq and named after Saint Helier, Jersey. The New South Wales State Government purchased the property in 1945 and it was used as a child welfare institution until its closure in 1986. It reopened as a correctional Centre in September 1989.The centre is largely self-sufficient in terms of beef and vegetable produce and provides the 9,700 prisoners in the other low security prisons in NSW with food. At peak, the centre runs 350 head of cattle. Inmates are also involved in furniture restoration, work in a local abattoir, and help maintain the Muswellbrook Cemetery and Vietnam Veterans Memorial.The mobile outreach program of the correctional centre has worked on signage and restoration of the Great North Road, a trail from Sydney to the Hunter Valley built by convict labour during the 1820s, and listed on both the Australian National Heritage List and UNESCO's World Heritage list. The mobile prison program was suspended in 2003.