The financial challenge extends beyond constructing the prison.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Responding to MP Franklin Meyers, Tackling said earlier planning assumptions put the new facility’s annual operating cost at about US$ 11.5 million at full operation, including staffing, operations and maintenance.
She emphasized that this remains an estimate. The Ministry is validating it against the proposed staffing structure, maintenance requirements, service-delivery model and wider operating costs.
The draft prison function book is complete and undergoing ministerial review. A final recurring cost will be confirmed once that validation is finished.
This introduces a major question for future budgets: how government will sustainably finance a 196-place prison after construction is completed.
Capital funding and annual operating funding serve different purposes. Delivering the building will still require government to maintain sufficient staffing, healthcare, rehabilitation, security and maintenance resources throughout its operation.
Violence and Reoffending Targets Still Being Developed
Tackling also confirmed that specific baselines and targets for prison violence and recidivism have not yet been formally finalized.
UNODC’s rehabilitation and reintegration roadmap is scheduled for completion in late 2026 and is expected to establish the approach to measuring reoffending and related outcomes.
Work to build staff capacity in preventing, defusing and responding to violence between prisoners is scheduled to begin in 2027. That work will develop associated performance measures.
Tackling said the relevant indicators and targets could be shared with Parliament once completed and formally adopted.
The construction timetable is therefore only one measure of progress. Parliament will also need validated operating costs and measurable standards for safety and rehabilitation to assess whether the redevelopment delivers the promised transformation.