Your rights in gaol

Visitors

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. Most video visits you have may be monitored or recorded. 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. Visits with a lawyer should not be monitored.

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.

Your security classification

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.

Changing gaols

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.

Gaol offences

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.

Segregation

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.

Mail and phone calls

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

Changing your name

You need the permission from the Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW to apply 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 and Justice website. 

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

Victims support

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.

Accessing legal information

You can access legislation and case law using the green computers. If you don’t have access to the green computers, you can ask your Education Officer to make a request to the MRRC Library.