ST.Behind Australia’s Most Secure Walls: A Rare Look Inside Supermax and the First Month of a Prisoner the System Will Not Release Lightly
Australia’s highest-security prison is designed for one purpose only: containment. Tucked within the Goulburn Correctional Complex on the Southern Tablelands, the High Risk Management Correctional Centre—widely known as Supermax—operates under rules unlike any other facility in the country. For those placed there, routine is rigid, contact is limited, and every movement is measured. It is a place built for people authorities believe cannot safely mix with the wider prison population.
In recent weeks, public attention has focused on the early weeks of custody for a 24-year-old man accused of an unprecedented series of offences linked to a major incident at Bondi. If found guilty, corrections experts say it is unlikely he would ever leave Supermax, unless an even more secure facility were created. The assessment is not about punishment alone; it reflects how the system manages individuals assessed as presenting exceptional risks.
Supermax sits about 200 kilometres south-west of Sydney and houses roughly 100 inmates. From the moment a person enters, they are subject to constant monitoring. Even before his transfer to Goulburn, the accused man was closely supervised while receiving medical care at a prison hospital. Since arriving at Supermax in early January, his contact with the outside world has been minimal and tightly controlled.
He has reportedly received a single visit, from a religious chaplain approved by Corrective Services. That short conversation was monitored and recorded in line with standard protocols for inmates assessed at the highest security level. Any such material may be shared with law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Beyond this, family visits have not occurred, and any future contact would require extensive vetting.
Life inside Supermax is deliberately stark. Inmates do not have access to electronic devices commonly used elsewhere to message family members. Phone calls, when permitted, take place under supervision, with all conversations monitored except for confidential legal discussions. Mail is examined carefully, and movements outside the cell involve multiple officers.
The facility is divided into two sections. Area 1, the original unit opened in 2001, houses the most closely managed inmates. Area 2, added in 2020, is intended for those who demonstrate sustained disengagement from harmful ideologies and behaviours. The accused man is held in Area 1, alongside others assessed as presenting the greatest ongoing risks.
Cells are small and functional: a concrete bed with a foam mattress, a fixed desk and chair, basic sanitary fittings, and a small television secured behind protective screening. Inmates spend up to 18 hours a day inside. Exercise occurs in individual or paired yards covered with steel mesh. Even these brief periods outside the cell are governed by strict rules about what can be carried.
For visitors, Supermax feels less like a traditional prison and more like a high-security medical facility—clean, quiet, and clinical. There are no communal activities, no informal gatherings, and no sense of spontaneity. Boredom and isolation are widely considered the greatest challenges for those inside.
Corrective Services NSW does not comment on individual cases, but officials emphasise that community safety guides every decision. The Category AA classification, the highest in the state, exists to manage inmates considered a serious risk to national security or public order. Additional designations can further restrict conditions if required.
For those who step inside Supermax, one reality becomes clear very quickly: this is not a place designed for rehabilitation in the usual sense. It is a facility built to hold, to monitor, and to prevent harm. For the accused man now spending his first month there, the path ahead will be long, tightly controlled, and defined by the most uncompromising security regime Australia has to offer.
