The state's Corrections Minister is "very confident" the Westbury community will see the construction of a prison outside the town as a positive for the local area.
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The Examiner revealed on Monday the proposed site for Tasmania's new $270 million Northern Regional Prison, which will be the second major prison facility in the state.
It follows the escape and subsequent capture of a violent criminal last week, after he escaped from Risdon Prison.
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The government has proposed to build the new 270-bed maximum security prison on a 41.5 hectare site at the Westbury Industrial Precinct.
It's expected to employ more than 250 people when it's fully up-and-running in 10 years' time.
Stage one of construction is projected to be completed by 2024, and stage two by 2029.
"We will be embarking on, as of today, an extensive public consultation [in relation to the prison site]," Corrections Minister Elise Archer said on Monday.
"Our number one priority is community safety.
"I encourage people to see this as a positive move and that it won't in any way deter on residential areas."
Door-knocking began on Monday to ensure residents were provided with sufficient information on the proposed prison site.
Ms Archer encouraged the public to state their concerns to the government about the proposed prison site.
"We can allay those concerns," she said.
"It's a flat site and it's been chosen as the preferred site for the Northern Regional Prison, not only because of its land topography - it's nice and flat - but also because it will have minimum impact on the local community.
"There'll be a big [six-metre high] concrete wall around the facility, which will be the highest maximum security facility that we have in this state, so community safety is at the fore in relation to this facility."
Ms Archer said the prison would represent a "massive injection" into the local economy in terms of jobs, business and industry.
Opposition justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad noted that there had been several prisoner escapes in Southern Tasmania in recent times and that the community needed to know how the government was going to support the prison system "right now" rather than 10 years into the future.
"We know that the prison systems right now are working in a way that is so stretched that they're not able to focus on those things that they want to," she said.
"What we will do as the Labor Party is we'll consult widely with the people of the Westbury community to make sure that any concerns or issues that they might have about that new build are listened to by government."
CPSU secretary Tom Lynch echoed Ms Haddad's comments, saying "we have a prison service that's in crisis in 2019 and the government's talking about solutions in 2024 or 2029".