LAVERTON residents want to set the record straight that the Port Phillip Prison is in Truganina in the municipality of Wyndham and not Laverton.

At last Tuesday night’s Hobsons Bay City Council meeting, councillor Michael Raffoul passed a motion for the council to write to two daily newspapers, the Minister for Corrections, Wyndham City Council and local MPs correcting them that Port Phillip Prison is not in Laverton, but in Truganina.

A press release issued by the Minister of Corrections on 5 October states that the maximum security prison is in Laverton.

John Elso, who has been living in Laverton for 46 years, said residents resented having the prison put in their backyard when in reality it was kilometres away in a different city.

“It’s often mistaken. I have my theories,” Mr Elso said.

Mr Elso thinks the mistake is often made because the closest post office to the prison is in Laverton, which is six or seven kilometres away.

“Go to your Melway – it’s number 53, Grid A1. It’s in the current edition, the Melway does not tell lies,” he said.

He said the misinformation was making it tougher for Laverton residents to raise the profile of its suburb.

“It’s just snob value, us residents of Laverton really do resent it,” he said. G4S director of Public Affairs Tim Hall said historically, since the prison was built, it had been described as Port Phillip Prison Laverton.

“Colloquially, that is still how it is described by virtually everybody who has any dealings with the prison,” he said.

“There are no plans to try to change the widely held practice of calling it Port Phillip Prison at Laverton.”