It also comes after yet another prisoner escape from a facility near Oberon.

Police are still hunting 24-year-old Gavin Marriott, who was noticed missing from the Oberon Correctional Centre at Shooters Hill at around 10.15am on Sunday during a check on inmates.

He had been accounted for at about 9am.

Marriott is the fourth inmate to escape from the centre in the past two months.

Steve McMahon, who is the chair of the union representing prison officers, the Prison Officers Vocational Branch,  said while he had not linked the incident at Shooters Hill with the push to reopen Kirkconnell, it was still an opportunity to put pressure on the government to look at reopening the facility east of Bathurst.

Mr McMahon said prisons across the state are bursting at the seams, and something needs to be done.

“At the moment we are at absolute capacity; our prisons are full,” he said.

“We have 11,100 inmates and we are pushing hard to reopen both Grafton and Kirkconnell.

“Grafton can be operational again in one week – it’s a case of walk in and turn the lights on.”

He expected Kirkconnell could be operational again in about 10 months.

“It’s possible it could be quicker, but there is work that needs to be done.”

He said Kirkconnell remained high on the union’s agenda, saying its location from Sydney was ideal.

“The minister is supportive of a notion to reopen Grafton, but I believe they are still sorting out treasury and cabinet issues,” he said, adding it was his belief an announcement on Grafton was imminent.

“There is nothing firm at the moment; funding and other things still have to be worked out.

“But we [the jails] are full, and we have to find 1000 beds between now and October.

“There are plans to build 600 modular cells, but that’s 10 months away.

“The decision needed to be made yesterday, and we want the government to reopen them both.”

There was a local outcry when the decision was made to close Kirkconnell.