A parcel of land next door to residential properties in Rocherlea was nominated to the Justice Department as a potential site for a new Northern prison, it has been revealed.
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The land, which backs on to homes on Waratah Road, was struck off the shortlist after assessment, however.
Labor in Parliament on Wednesday revealed four sites on Crown land that were shortlisted for the new prison following a Right to Information request.
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The other sites included land on Stowport Road at Wivenhoe and two land parcels in Latrobe - one on Henry Street and one on Palmers Road.
The names of organisations which submitted proposals under the expressions of interest process for a prison site were withheld due to commercial-in-confidence protocols.
The department released the assessment criteria for reaching a preferred prison site and the names of the nine members on the Northern Prison Siting Panel.
They included senior staff from the Justice Department, State Growth, Tasmanian Health Service, Infrastructure Tasmania and Tasmanian Police assistant commissioner Richard Cowling.
Assessment criteria included access to legal, welfare, health and emergency services as well as access to court, relatives and friends, and education and training.
Corrections Minister Elise Archer said of the four prison sites revealed on Wednesday, one was withdrawn by the agency that submitted it.
She said one site's gradient was deemed inappropriate for the construction of a prison and the two others were considered too close to residential properties.
The government has selected an industrial parcel of land two kilometres from the centre of Westbury as the preferred prison site which has caused a stir in that community.
Labor's Jen Butler said the government's decision was the result of a botched process.
This secrecy and lack of consultation has fuelled deep distrust in the Westbury community who are strongly opposed to a prison in their town, she said.
