Backpacker killer Ivan Milat did not live to see his long-term home’s latest refurbishment but he would not really fit in at Supermax these days.
Milat was one of the first inmates when Supermax opened 20 years ago and before his death in 2019 was already the odd one out in many ways.
Supermax houses inmates who cannot be allowed to mix in the wider New South Wales jail system and the profile of those prisoners has drastically changed.
Most of the older Anglo and Aboriginal prisoners who once occupied Australia’s most secure jail are now long gone and their places taken by young jihadis.
The original facility was home to recognisable criminals who were among the most dangerous in the country – the first three inmates had killed 18 victims.
Backpacker killer Ivan Milat and a revolving freak show of violent criminals once generated most of the headlines from behind Supermax’s bars but that dishonour now falls to prison menace Bassam Hamzy. Milat is pictured at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital in May 2019
Supermax houses inmates who cannot be allowed to mix in the wider NSW jail system. Most of the older Anglo and Aboriginal prisoners who once occupied Australia’s most secure jail are now long gone and their places taken by young jihadis. The entrance to Supermax is pictured
To bring the facility up to the necessary security standards Supermax has recently undergone a $12million renovation, almost tripling its capacity to accommodate 121 prisoners. A full-body scanner is one of the new pieces of high-tech equipment that has been installed
The Supermax population has historically featured prisoners with a high capacity to influence others and institutionally violent inmates.
Former NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham once said: ‘The scumbags in the Supermax are in the right place.’
A NSW Corrective Services spokeswoman previously described Supermax as an ‘integral part’ of the state’s penal system.
‘It is designed to accommodate male inmates who have been found to be an extreme high risk to the good order, safety and security of other correctional centres,’ she said.
It also housed inmates who were a ‘serious threat of escape, detained under national security provisions, or are considered high public profile.’
Whereas Milat and a revolving freak show of multiple murderers were once the most notorious names behind Supermax’s bars, it is now terrorists who dominate the scene.
The expanded facility increases the prison system’s ability to receive and hold terrorist and other high-risk offenders away from general population inmates. It is no more comfortable for inmates, who spend up to 18 hours a day in a tiny cell
The Supermax population has always featured prisoners with a high capacity to influence others and institutionally violent inmates. Former NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham once said: ‘The scumbags in the Supermax are in the right place.’
Inmates cannot leave their cells without being handcuffed and new hatches (pictured) in the doors allow that to be done while they are sill locked up. They are moved to a new cell every 28 days and three staff accompany an individual inmate at any time
Islamic terrorists in Supermax generally do not mingle with the high-profile non-Muslim criminals. The older Al-Qaeda supporters do not even associate with Islamic State’s younger adherents.
While non-Muslims have in the past been converted to radical beliefs within Supermax, concentrating the terrorists in one place is deemed the best way to protect the wider prisoner population from their extreme ideologies.
Originally called the High Risk Management Unit, this plain-looking fortress is now officially designated the High Risk Management Correctional Centre.
It is known to the public as Supermax but has sometimes been dubbed Supermosque due to its ever increasing number of Islamic inmates.
Supermax sits with the grounds of Goulburn Correctional Centre on the NSW Southern Tablelands, almost 200km south-west of Sydney and 90km north-east of Canberra.
Originally called the High Risk Management Unit, this plain-looking fortress is now officially designated the High Risk Management Correctional Centre. Security manager Stuart Lyle is pictured outside two Supermax cells
While non-Muslims have in the past been converted to radical beliefs within Supermax, concentrating the terrorists in one place is deemed the best way to protect the wider prisoner population from their extreme ideologies. Cameras watch over exercise yards
Supermax opened in September 2001 – the month terrorists flew planes into New York’s World Trade Centre – and was soon unable to keep pace with a new type of prisoner. Of the more than 12,600 inmates in NSW, there are 47 in custody for terror-related offences
It was the first extreme security facility built in NSW since the 40-cell Katingal unit at Long Bay closed after less than three years of operation in 1978.
Supermax opened in September 2001 – the month terrorists flew planes into New York’s World Trade Centre – and was unable to keep pace with a new type of prisoner.
The requirements to securely house and manage high-risk offenders with a range of extremist ideologies meant for many years the original Supermax could handle just 45 of the 75 inmates it was built to hold.
Of the more than 12,600 inmates in NSW, there were 47 in custody for terror-related offences on November 22 last year and almost all of them were inside Supermax’s electrified razor wire.
To bring the facility up to the necessary security standards Supermax has recently undergone a $12million renovation, almost tripling its capacity to accommodate 121 prisoners.
The jail within a jail is now split into two sections – the High Risk Management Correctional Centre Area 1, housing up to 75 inmates, and Area 2, which holds 46 more.
Area 2 – designed as a ‘step-down’ unit – opened in May last year, to house offenders who had demonstrated a commitment to disengage from radical behaviour. Area 1 was officially reopened on November 22.
The expanded facility increases the prison system’s ability to receive and hold terrorist and other high-risk offenders away from general population inmates.
It is no more comfortable for inmates, who spend up to 18 hours a day in a tiny cell where even the temperature of the six-minute showers is controlled from outside.
The new ‘bigger, better’ Supermax features a fully integrated security management system that extends across the entire prison precinct and perimeter. It includes upgrades to electronic security including CCTV, telephone monitoring and a walk-through metal detector
Everything metal in or on a person being scanned in a walk-through detector shows up on a screen, which is monitored by an officer. In the past prisoners have attempted to smuggle drugs, weapons and mobile phones concealed in their bodies
No inmate has ever escaped from Supermax and no one kept there has been killed.
In early 2018 there were 50 inmates housed in Supermax – 25 of those were local terrorists and six had fought in foreign wars. The remaining 19 prisoners were there for offences unrelated to national security.
On November 22 last year, Area 1 was holding 43 inmates and Area 2 was housing 28 for a total Supermax population of 71. Each area is just as secure.
Prisoners convicted of terrorism-related offences are classified AA – the highest security grading in the system.
Most Supermax inmates are also designated Extreme High Risk – Restricted or fall under the National Security Interest designation. (They have generally been locked up for plotting terrorist acts rather than killing anyone).
When the construction of a second Supermax unit was announced it was heralded as a move to ‘future proof the NSW system to handle a new era of terrorist inmate’.
One of the main aims of increasing the size of Supermax was to reduce the risk of radicalisation of other prisoners in the state’s jails.
Prisoners convicted of terrorism-related offences are classified AA – the highest security rating in the system. Most Supermax inmates are also designated Extreme High Risk – Restricted (EHRR) or fall under the National Security Interest (NSI) designation
Each cell contains a concrete bed with a foam mattress, a small desk, one chair, a seat-less stainless steel toilet and sink with a shower nozzle above. A tiny television sits behind perspex on a shelf and there is a small caged yard outside
While some of Supermax’s inmates were serving life without the possibility of parole, most had fixed sentences and would eventually return to the community.
Before that happened they would hopefully be reintegrated into the mainstream prison population at maximum security jails such as those at Kempsey and Lithgow.
Goulburn governor Wayne Taylor said extreme high-risk inmates had to be carefully managed as they progressed through lower security classifications.
‘In the 20 years since the HRMCC opened the way that we manage high risk offenders has changed significantly,’ Mr Taylor said at Area 1’s reopening.
‘The upgraded Area 1 provides the contemporary highly level security infrastructure essential for us to safely manage the current cohort of high risk inmates.’
Mr Taylor said prisoners who ‘stepped down’ to Area 2 were offered education programs that helped support their rehabilitation and disengagement from violent extremism.
Corrective Services Commissioner Kevin Corcoran said Supermax had been the most secure facility in Australia since it opened. ‘The original facility however was designed and built to house a very different cohort of offenders to the one we have here today,’ he said
Previously the jail had three visiting rooms – two contact and one non-contact. Two family visit room have been added as well as four extreme-risk visiting rooms (pictured). Inmates must speak English when receiving visitors and every conversation can be monitored.
The stepping down process could take ‘many years, maybe even decades’, according to NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Kevin Corcoran.
Mr Corcoran said Supermax had been the most secure facility in Australia since it opened.
‘The original facility however was designed and built to house a very different cohort of offenders to the one we have here today,’ he said.
‘The first inmates were transferred into Supermax in September 2001 – ironically the same month when events occurred overseas that ultimately resulted in a very new type of offender needing to be accommodated.
‘When this occurred much of the original facility became operationally obsolete.
‘The additional physical and electronic security measures provided by the upgrade have been critical to us in realising the full potential of this world-class facility.’
Supermax is part of the Goulburn Correctional Centre on the NSW Southern Tablelands, almost 200km south-west of Sydney and 90km north-east of Canberra. A dog handler is pictured on the grounds below one of the main prison’s observation towers
Pictured is the heritage-listed main entrance to Goulburn Correctional Centre, formerly known as Goulburn Gaol, Goulburn Reformatory and Goulburn Training Centre. It opened in 1884. Supermax is a small part of the complex with its own entrance
The High Risk Management Correctional Centre sits within the Goulburn prison complex (above). It may be the country’s most secure prison but it is on the doorstep of houses and farming land
Mr Corcoran said the purpose of Supermax first and foremost was security – ‘locking people up and making sure they don’t escape’.
‘While that’s a very important function of ours there’s another function, that is the benefit of the long-term security of the community.’
The new ‘bigger, better’ Supermax features a fully integrated security management system that extends across the entire prison precinct and perimeter.
It includes upgrades to electronic security including CCTV, telephone and audio monitoring, an X-ray machine and walk-through metal detector.
Everything metal in or on a person being scanned shows up on a screen, including surgical screws in an officer’s knee and his nipple rings when Daily Mail Australia visited last month.
With its cream-painted walls, and lino-floored corridors Supermax feels more like an extremely secure hospital than a traditional jail.
Each cell contains a concrete bed with a foam mattress, a small desk, one chair, a seat-less stainless steel toilet and sink with a shower nozzle above.
Corrective Services Commissioner Kevin Corcoran said the purpose of Supermax first and foremost was security – ‘locking people up and making sure they don’t escape’. Pictured is the view from a corridor into an exercise yard
Supermax now has eight exercise yards where inmates can gather in pairs for two and a half hours outside. Some inmates choose not to associate with anyone
Each yard has a steel mesh canopy to prevent items being thrown over the wall or dropped by drone. Inmates using the toilet are clearly visible from all angles and are filmed
A tiny television sits behind perspex on a shelf and there is a small caged yard outside.
Inmates cannot leave their cells without being handcuffed and new hatches in the doors allow that to be done while they are sill locked up.
They are moved to a new cell every 28 days and three staff accompany an individual inmate at any time. Mobile phone jammers have been installed.
Previously the jail had three visiting rooms – two contact and one non-contact. Two family visit room have been added as well as four extreme-risk visiting rooms.
Inmates must speak English when receiving visitors and every conversation can be monitored.
Supermax now has eight exercise yards where inmates can gather in pairs for two and a half hours outside. Some inmates choose not to associate with anyone.
Each yard has a steel mesh canopy to prevent items being thrown over the wall or dropped by drone. Inmates using the toilet are clearly visible from all angles and are filmed.
When Daily Mail Australia visited Ivan Milat’s onetime home in Area 1’s Unit 9 it held 20 inmates – 16 were classed extreme high-risk and four extreme high-security. Fourteen were accused or convicted terrorists
At least 80 per cent of Supermax’s population is now Muslim and most of those prisoners pray five times a day, which used to annoy Milat and other nominally Christian felons
A prisoner using one of the yards can take with him a bottle of water, two religious items such as a prayer mat and cap, a handball, radio and towel.
At least 80 per cent of Supermax’s population is now Muslim and most of those prisoners pray five times a day, which used to annoy Milat and other nominally Christian felons.
When Daily Mail Australia visited Milat’s onetime home in Area 1’s Unit 9 it held 20 inmates – 16 were classed extreme high-risk and four extreme high-security. Fourteen were accused or convicted terrorists.
For most of its existence the jail’s most notorious inmate was Milat, who despite being held behind such strict security managed for two decades to keep himself in the news.
A Supermax inmate is moved from one area of the prison to another accompanied by three Corrective Services officers. Prisoners are under CCTV surveillance 24 hours a day
Corrective Services officers remove ankle cuffs from an inmate inside his cell at Goulburn’s Supermax prison. Prisoners are subject to extreme security measures throughout the jail
Miilat cut off the little finger of his left hand, which he intended to mail to the High Court, and went on a hunger strike when authorities took away his toasted sandwich maker.
He also swallowed razor blades, staples and other metal objects.
Today Supermax’s best-known occupant is killer and ISIS sympathiser Bassam Hamzy who has been a menace to his custodians since he was first incarcerated in 1998.
NSW Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts said Supermax would remain necessary to protect society from terrorists and the rest of the prison system from intractable inmates.
‘None of us like the fact that we need a place like this but the fact is that we do,’ Mr Roberts said.
‘All of us can sleep a little better knowing that we have the best facility, housing the most dangerous elements of the country’s criminals.’
NSW Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts said Supermax would remain necessary to protect society from terrorists and the rest of the prison system from intractable inmates
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