The Shooters Hill complex might be a minimum security jail, but the community would expect a bit better than this.

Residents living near the centre can hardly be comforted by the idea of inmates fleeing at will, and the time and resources put into recapturing them represents a drain the state’s policing budget can ill afford.

The escapes must also have an impact on staff morale at the jail and create an uneasy atmosphere throughout the facility.

The timing of the escapes could also prove a headache for Bathurst MP Paul Toole as he prepares to fight the state election in just three short months.

Prisons have been a problem for this government since it took power in 2011, and nowhere moreso than here.

The decision to close Kirkconnell Correctional Centre angered many local families and created the impression of a government happy to sacrifice people for profits. And that closure again came under the spotlight earlier this year when figures showed the NSW prison population has reached a record level – but still there was no move to recommission Kirkconnell.

So now it is hard to consider these three recent escapes without looking at them in the context of the closure of Kirkconnell.

Could the increased pressure on the Shooters Hill facility be one of the reasons inmates seem to be leaving at will?

And would reopening Kirkconnell not only take some pressure off prison staff, but also make for a more compliant inmate population?

You can expect Labor candidate for Bathurst Cassandra Coleman will be asking these same questions every chance she gets between now and March 28.