RESIDENTS have demanded authorities change the way they notify the community when sex offenders abscond from Corella Place.
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About 50 people attended a public forum in Ararat on Thursday evening to air their concerns after a resident of the notorious facility escaped earlier in the week.
The 24-year-old man allegedly cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet and spent almost 12 hours on the run before being intercepted by police near the Beaufort Railway Station.
It was at least the seventh escape from the centre, which houses some of the state’s worst sex offenders following their release from prison, since 2010.
Victoria Police called the community meeting to allow residents to ask questions and provide feedback to authorities about their management of the centre and handling of escape incidents.
A common theme throughout the night was disquiet over which of the area’s residents were alerted to the escape and how long it took for the message to be delivered.
Megan Shea, who lives on a farm near Corella Place, said her family had never been notified of an escape despite having a number of sheds and outhouses escapees could hide in.
She said she was deeply concerned at having been out jogging alone on Monday morning oblivious to the fact a man had hours earlier absconded from the facility.
Some attendees called for an app to be developed that alerted nearby residents when there was an escape, while others suggested sirens be sounded once an escape was confirmed.
Corella Place managing director Andrew Burger stressed the centre was not a prison and had to operate as a “remedial, not punitive” facility, according to the law.
He admitted there were few consequences for those who cut off their GPS monitoring bracelets, examples of which were handed around the room.
Mr Burger said there were a number of misconceptions surrounding Corella Place that needed to be addressed.
He said it was wrong to think the centre was furnished with swimming pools and bowling greens, giving residents a superior standard of living to that of many people in the community.
Rather, he said the village was built to housing commission standards and the residents, up to 75 per cent of whom had intellectual disabilities or acquired brain injuries, lived off Newstart or disability allowances.
However, one attendee called for convicted sex offenders to be housed in more secure facilities if they were still deemed to be a risk to the public upon their release from prison.
“These are people who have been put there because they are deemed not fit to be back in society,” she said.
“They honestly shouldn’t have these rights that they have. I believe that something should be changed.”
Victoria Police inspector Ian Lindsay said authorities would go away and work on putting procedures in place to notify residents more quickly of an escape.