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Prisoner

Information about your rights as a prisoner in a NSW gaol.

Prison life

Your family and friends can arrange to visit you by booking in a visit with the correctional centre. These visits may be in person or could be over Skype.  All visits must be approved before they can happen. There are restrictions on what visitors are allowed to bring to a visit. Your visitors should check with the correctional centre before bringing any items into a gaol.

You can also be visited by lawyers, the official visitor, consular officials and cultural or religious persons. These visitors will all know how to arrange their visits with you. 

Some people may be restricted from visiting you because of their own conduct, their age, the offence you are accused of committing, or because there are court orders in place that prevent contact. If your visitor is restricted from seeing you, you can talk to Prisoners Legal Service about this, but your visitor may also need some independent legal advice, depending on the reason for the restriction. 

You have a right to refuse most visits.

Prisoners receive a security classification as soon as they enter custody. A security classification will affect the way you experience life in prison as it impacts the gaol you can be held in, the people you can associate with, and the programmes you can access. It will also determine how restrictive your physical environment is. 

This classification is reviewed at least once every 12 months. When a classification review is held, unless there are exceptional circumstances, you should be present at the review. You can't be legally represented at the review. 

You may be able to request a review without waiting for the 12-month review if you have information that was not available at the time of the last review. A review may also be held if it can be shown that you were denied procedural fairness in the previous review. 

In general, you can't choose which gaol you are held in. Your gaol placement will be determined by a combination of factors, such as classification, status as a remand or sentenced inmate, health or mental health needs, case plans and program needs. Proximity to family is something that should also be considered, particularly for Aboriginal inmates, but it is not uncommon for people to be held in prison a long way from their home and family. 

Gaol placement will be reviewed once every 12 months. However, you can request a review at any time by submitting an inmate request at the gaol. 

Legal Aid NSW may be able to assist in advocating for a change in placement in limited circumstances, but we can't force Corrective Services NSW to transfer anyone. We can't attend the gaol and argue your case, but we may be able to write to Corrective Services NSW about your placement concerns if you are unable to advocate for yourself.

The Governor of a correctional centre can charge you if they believe you have committed a prison offence.  If the charges are serious, they will hold an inquiry. 

Inquiries are informal and there are no rules of evidence. You may present evidence and can cross-examine any witnesses that are called in the inquiry. Other than in very limited circumstances, you can’t be represented. There is also no general right of appeal against a decision made following an inquiry, but the penalties imposed by a Governor are far less severe than those that can be imposed by a Visiting Magistrate or by the Local Court. 

While internal charges for prison offences are not considered criminal offences, they can still have an impact on classification progression and whether you are released to parole. Therefore, behaviour in custody should be taken seriously and so should internal charges. 

An initial segregation order is made for 14 days. You can't have this order reviewed. However, if Corrective Services NSW decides to extend the segregation order you are entitled to ask for that order to be reviewed. 

Reviews of Segregation Orders are considered by the Serious Offenders Review Council (SORC). You should be given papers to seek a review when a segregation order is extended. You need to fill out the review application and hand it in at the gaol. This form will then be forwarded to SORC. 

It is recommended that you get legal advice before you return the review hearing application so that you know what you should put in the application. SORC will not accept these forms directly from Legal Aid NSW. They must be submitted within the prison system. 

If you would like legal representation at a segregation review hearing, you need to advise SORC of this and contact a lawyer. The SORC will not arrange representation for you. 

Representation is available from Legal Aid NSW through Prisoners Legal Service (PLS), but PLS will only appear if you satisfy a means and merit test. If you require assistance from PLS you should call Legal Aid NSW (#2 on the CADL) and ask for PLS. PLS will approach SORC and obtain a copy of your file to conduct a merit assessment.

If you have a complaint about a Legal Aid lawyer, or a private lawyer representing you on behalf of legal aid, please call Legal Aid NSW (#11 on the CADL).

If you want to change your lawyer, you need to speak to the Grants Administration who will record the details of the request and work with you to achieve an outcome. A transfer is not always possible, you will need to provide good reasons for why your matter should be transferred.

If you have a complaint about how you are being treated by Corrections or Youth Justice, you can call the NSW Ombudsman (#8 on the CADL).

If you have a complaint about an urgent medical issue, contact the Corrective  Service Support Line (#1 of the CADL).

You can speak to your welfare officer and arrange to put your name on a wait list to see a lawyer from Legal Aid.

For help with a criminal law or family law matter, you could also contact the Prisoners Legal Service Dial #2 (Legal Aid) on the gaol CADL phone system as a free call and ask for PLS.

For help with civil law matters, you could contact Prisoners Civil Law Service by dialling #2 (Legal Aid) on the gaol CADL phone system as a free call,  and ask for PCLS.  

The governor or a nominated officer can:

  • open, inspect and read a letter or parcel sent to or by an inmate
  • confiscate a letter or parcel that contains prohibited goods 
  • copy any writing or pictures in a letter or parcel and give the copy to the inmate instead of the original.

Mail from Legal Aid is considered confidential due to privilege. This means that the prison is not permitted to read it or open it. Letters from Legal Aid are put in an envelope and wrapped with a privileged letter around that envelope, to let the prison know that it should be given to the inmate unopened. 

Most telephone calls and video visits you have may be monitored or recorded. Some telephone calls and video visits, including those with a lawyer, should not be monitored.

You can ask for overdue fines to be put on hold while you are in gaol. 

You will need to complete a form and submit it to Revenue NSW.

For a copy of the form, see Inmate Request for Information on the Revenue NSW website. 

You will need to contact Revenue NSW when you are released from prison to respond to your fines.

If you need to, you can also complete the 'Authority to Act' section on the Inmate Request form if you prefer a relative or friend to act on your behalf in matters relating to Revenue NSW.

If you are an inmate, you need permission from the Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW to make an application to Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) to change your name. You can't apply directly to BDM, you must apply to the Commissioner first.

You need to complete an applic​ation form and attach relevant identification. You also need to include on the form the reasons why you want to change your name.

You should give your completed application form to either the:

  • Manager, Offender Services and Programs (at your gaol), or
  • Manager of Security, or Transitional Centre Manager.

For a copy of the form, see Applications for approval to change name on the NSW Communities & Justice website. 

If you need assistance with the form, speak to your welfare officer, or contact the Prisoners Legal Service.

If you need assistance with applying for parole, or with a meeting or hearing, contact the Prisoners Legal Service.​

If you are the victim of a violent crime in gaol, you can only apply for victims support if you have special circumstances. Victims support includes an application for financial assistance or for a recognition payment. You should get legal advice about your circumstances. You can speak to the Prisoners Civil Law Service, or make an appointment to see a Legal Aid lawyer when they next visit your centre.

If you were the victim of a violent crime but the crime was committed outside of gaol, you may be eligible to apply for victims support but it depends on the circumstances of your case. 

For more information, see Victims rights on the My problem is about section of our website.

You can ask your Education Officer to make a request to the MRRC Library. 

The State Parole Authority (SPA)

The State Parole Authority (SPA) is an independent statutory authority that concerns itself with the administration of sentences in NSW.  It sits in the Sydney West Trial Courts at Parramatta, Tuesday to Friday most weeks of the year and conducts public hearings in relation to Parole and Intensive Correction Orders.

SPA considers applications for parole for all offenders [SM1] [SR2] who are serving a sentence of more than 3 years. Offenders sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 3 years or less are subject to statutory parole and do not require SPA to grant parole for them to be released from prison.

SPA also considers breach reports from Community Corrections when it is alleged that an offender is not complying with the conditions of a parole order, intensive correction order or reintegration home detention order.   

For more information on this issue see our publication Have you breached your Parole or ICO?

SPA initially considers all matters in a private meeting.  This means that you and your legal representative can’t attend.  If the matter needs to go into a public hearing list SPA will send you a copy of the papers and a notice which asks if you would like to attend the hearing. If you would like to make submissions at that hearing and if you would the like to be legally represented at that hearing.  There is no requirement to have a lawyer at a SPA hearing. You are entitled to represent yourself if you choose to. 

If you indicate on the notice that you would like to be legally represented and tick the box for Prisoners Legal Service (PLS), SPA will send a copy of the papers to PLS roughly 7 days before the hearing date.  PLS then arranges to have a conference with you and appears for you at the hearing. 

If you nominate a private lawyer, SPA will contact them and confirm if they are instructed to appear in the matter before they send the papers to them.  A private lawyer can’t be allocated a grant of Legal Aid to appear at SPA, so if  you engage a private lawyer, you are responsible for making your own financial arrangements. 

SPA generally sits as a panel of five members chaired by a retired Judge or Magistrate. You will appear via audio visual link and your Community Corrections Officer is normally connected to the hearing by telephone. 

During a review hearing before SPA, evidence can be called and submissions made.  There are no rules of evidence in the jurisdiction, and it is common for the members to ask you questions directly, even if you are legally represented. 

The primary consideration of the SPA is community safety - is it in the interest of community safety for an offender to be released and can any risk to community safety be mitigated by imposing conditions on the offenders order?

If the SPA refuses an application for parole or confirms the revocation of a parole order, it is required to reconsider the matter in 12 months, (if there is 12 months or more left on the sentence).

There are limited circumstances in which a further consideration for parole can be made under the Manifest Injustice Provisions – you should seek advice from Prisoners Legal Service if you would like to know more about this.  

There is no time frame for reconsideration of a decision not to reinstate an ICO. You must serve at least one month in full time imprisonment before you can apply for reinstatement, but if SPA refuse to reinstate your ICO you can technically apply again at any time. Prisoners Legal Service can provide you with advice about when it may be an appropriate time to apply again.   

There is no automatic right of appeal against a decision of SPA. You can't seek a merit review, the only avenue available is Judicial Review in the Supreme Court. 

It is recommended that you seek advice before making an application for Judicial Review. The prospects of success of these applications are quite limited. 

Legal Aid is available for Judicial Review but the applications are subject to means, merit and an available funds tests. The applications are time consuming and the Supreme Court can't make a parole order. The most positive outcome available is that the matter would be sent back to the SPA for it to be re-determined according to law. There may also be costs implications where an application for Judicial Review is not successful.

Contact us

If you have a legal problem in NSW, Legal Aid NSW is here to help you.

Prisoners Civil Law Service

This service provides referrals, advice, and assistance to prisoners with civil law issues like fines, debts, housing, discrimination and complaints against gaols.

Prisoners Legal Service (PLS)

This service offers legal advice to prisoners on bail applications, appeals, parole, family law and representation at State Parole Authority hearings.

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