Read the full report
A NSW Ombudsman investigation has found that South Coast Correctional Centre’s (South Coast CC) treatment of inmates in protective custody, who were locked in for 24 hours a day without access to open-air exercise, to be unlawful and oppressive.
The Investigation into the management and treatment of inmates held in protective custody at South Coast Correctional Centre report raises concerns about legal and human rights violations due to the inmates’ lack of access to outdoor exercise and contact visits.
The Ombudsman commenced its investigation after receiving complaints from 4 inmates at the South Coast CC in April 2025. Each inmate said they had been locked in their single cell 24-7, for periods ranging from 2 weeks to 3 months – claims which Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) essentially confirmed following the Ombudsman’s inquiries.
The Ombudsman discovered that around 30 inmates at South Coast CC were affected. It also found that protective custody inmates at other centres - including Parklea Correctional Centre, the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre and Shortland Correctional Centre - were also being locked alone in their cells without daily entitlement to open air exercise.
The primary driver for this situation were changes made in 2020 and 2024 to CSNSW policy, and CSNSW’s failure to properly identify, plan for and manage the operational impacts of the changes. In particular:
- In 2020, CSNSW stopped the use of a form of protective custody – known as ‘protection limited association’– in which inmates who may be at risk if placed in the mainstream prison population could be held together with other inmates in similar circumstances.
- The effect of this change was that inmates in protective custody could only be held on the alternative ‘protection no association’ basis. This meant they could not associate with any other inmates, and each was to be held in complete isolation from every other inmate.
- A further policy change in December 2024 meant that cohorts of vulnerable inmates (not formally in protective custody) were also no longer to be separated from the mainstream prison population under what were referred to as ‘section 78A orders’. Until then, these orders were being used to house together similar groups of vulnerable inmates, who were then able to associate with each other, but separate from the general population.
- In December 2024, CSNSW required prisons to cease the use of s 78A orders, and either return those inmates to the mainstream population or manage them on an alternative basis by January 2025.
- This change led to a sudden increase of inmates being placed into protective custody, and therefore being made subject to a ‘no association’ direction.
- With limited facilities to house such inmates, exacerbated by staffing shortages, the rising population of protective custody inmates were then locked in their cells for long periods of time, with no (or very limited and infrequent) access to outdoor exercise, and with limited human contact.
NSW Ombudsman Paul Miller labelled the situation arising from the policy changes as “foreseeable and avoidable”.
“Our investigation found that the housing of inmates in areas of a prison not designed for protective custody for prolonged periods, in circumstances where they were deprived of daily exercise or contact visits, was unlawful and oppressive,” said Mr Miller.
“International human rights instruments emphasise the importance of providing inmates with opportunities for physical exercise,” Mr Miller continued. “The minimum legal standard in NSW is 2 hours of access to outdoor exercise daily and inmates in protective custody have the same entitlement.”
“Had we not received any complaints, it is not clear how long the situation at South Coast Correctional Centre and the other centres would have persisted.”
The tabled report also details CSNSW’s failures to provide required documentation to the Ombudsman during the investigation within designated timeframes, which the Ombudsman found to be “unlawful and wrong”.
“There is a clear and strict legal requirement that public authorities produce all documents or information required by the Ombudsman,” said Mr Miller.
“Timely access to evidence is imperative to ensure a timely investigation, and so that wrongdoing and mistreatment is identified, addressed and corrected as soon as possible.”
The Ombudsman’s report makes 13 recommendations to CSNSW, including to conduct regular reviews of inmates subject to protective custody placements, to re-instate protection limited association placement options, and to conduct training for all senior staff in record keeping.
