It’s almost midday inside Australia’s toughest women’s prison and an inmate is writhing on the floor and battering the wall of her holding cell.
She’s a repeat offender – it’s not long since she was given parole – and now she’s been delivered back in a white prison truck.
She bellows her distress as she hits the cell’s transparent perspex walls with a walking stick. The prison officer in charge, Lisa, calmly asks for the stick to be retrieved.
Like every female in the state who is denied bail, handcuffed and placed into custody, the woman is being processed as an inmate at the maximum security Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.
Two inmates play volleyball out in Silverwater Women’s yard before they are locked in their cells at 2.30pm for the night
A Dutch sausage dip pack for lunch for an inmate who proudly shows off her impressive fingernail job that’s still intact three weeks after being locked up
The tablet the prisoners use to communicate with pre-approved contacts is not connected to the internet
The high number of inmates with children inspired one of the prison’s programs MAAD (Mothering At A Distance) to help those struggling with being an mum behind bars
You don’t realise what you have done, bad things, until you are in here,’ one of six women in the MAAD class said
The other fresh arrivals in the row of see-through cells in the induction unit are quiet and compliant, still dressed in their civvies. One woman is slumped with a distant stare as she waits in limbo between the end of freedom and prison life.
The prison, which holds about 220 female inmates, is one of four in the vast Silverwater jail complex that is set on 26 hectares between the Parramatta River and the Holker Street Mobil terminals.
When Daily Mail Australia was granted access to the prison a few weeks before Christmas, most of the inmates were resigned to being locked up for the duration of their sentences, a couple were hopeful of release, while one was approaching her eighth stint behind bars.
Lisa said the jail processed up to seven fresh custodies a day, plus another three women transferred from other prisons or police cells.
Inmates carry their belongings through the jail to a wing where they will live while on remand for crimes ranging from drugs, to property theft and acts of violence
Still in her civvies, this female was quiet and compliant as another woman yelled and banged the perspex wall of the induction cells
Each new inmate exchanges their clothes and personal effects for a pile of jail belongings including prison greens and runners, shampoo and conditioner, a plastic plate and cup, and non-tear sheets
The induction centre operates from 6pm to 10pm seven days a week, with women arriving in a prison truck in various states.
‘If it’s a vulnerable charge – like an offence against a child, we separate them. If they have said they will self-harm, there is a screening process for physical as well mental,’ Lisa said.
‘There’s a questionnaire asking if they are going to hurt themselves, or anything they wish to tell us.
‘A lot of the girls are regulars, others have never been here before.’
Lisa has a warrant for each offender coming off the truck, along with their criminal charges, next court appearance and MIN (Master Index) number which is theirs for life. They are individually identified with mug shots and birth dates.
The women must hand over their phones, key cards, licences and valuables which are stored in bags tagged with their names and MIN numbers until their release.
They see a welfare officer to organise anything needed for children left at home and a SAPO (Service and Programs Officer) to obtain items including a birth certificate for long-term inmates.
Veteran prison boss Governor Simon Raper has worked as security or general manager at more than a dozen jails around the state and says Silverwater Women’s has issues of violence and other incidents that are ‘the normal gamut’ of jail life
A female inmate helps carry books with two prison officers to a library where they can borrow books ranging from romance to murder and mystery, as well as studying legal tomes for their court cases
Female inmates out in the yard where one said ‘tensions can boil over’ and another warned of ‘standover’ prisoners and ‘queen bees’
In the induction unit’s hallway near the row of holding cells, a stack of prison issue belongings waits for the moment each new inmate hands over their clothing and all jewellery bar wedding rings and crosses or other symbols of faith before the compulsory strip search or body scan.
One inmate told Daily Mail Australia she was strip-searched three times in one day during processing: ‘It was horrible, I was treated like crap’ – before being swallowed into the jail and the anonymity of prison greens.
Another inmate became hysterical about her experience in a body scan – one of the machines gradually overtaking strip searches. They are ‘less invasive’ but also detect drugs concealed internally.
The woman was confined to a ‘dry cell’ – which has no toilet or running water – to secrete internal contraband after the body scan indicated drugs – although the inmate claims it was an intrauterine contraceptive device.
The jail’s governor, Simon Raper, quietly confirms the woman scanned was concealing drugs.
A prison officer lets an inmate pass from one section of Silverwater Women’s to another. The jail is one of four that is set on 26 hectares in western Sydney
Body scanners are gradually replacing strip searches and while less invasive, they are highly effective in detecting contraband and are used to prevent visitors smuggling in drugs
The scanners are so powerful they can X-ray a person’s body to detect internally concealed drugs or contraband and in the case of a prison officer passing through Goulburn’s Supermax jail earlier this year, surgical pins in his knee and nipple rings (above)
An officer of 35 years spent in 14 special operations units and different correctional centres, Mr Raper has worked as security manager or general manager from Sydney’s notorious Long Bay jail to regional NSW and back again.
One of his ongoing challenges is to prevent drugs coming in via internal concealment, visitors, or tossed over the razor wire along Silverwater’s high mesh fences.
Mr Raper later reveals out in the jail yard that he is working with other prison authorities to combat fence drops with new hi-tech radar equipment.
After visits were cancelled to NSW correctional centres in March 2020 due to Covid, all jails recorded an increase in people using mail, drones and tennis balls to attempt smuggle drugs inside.
Inmates attend a Mothering At A Distance (MAAD) session which helps them cope with the enormity of being a mother behind bars
An inmate unravels Qantas headsets in the Silverwater workshop supervised by Senior Overseer Baldev Dhillon who said they were relieved to be back working after a ‘dead’ period during Covid when no-one was flying
Female inmate in the yard at Silverwater Women’s jail chats with Principal Advisor of Women’s Services, Kelly Austin
Silverwater Women’s is still known among prisoners as Mulawa, its old name from last century when it housed some of Australia’s most notorious female criminals including ‘Angel of Death’ Julie Cashman, cannibal killer Catherine Knight, Australia’s worst female serial killer Kathleen Folbigg, and ‘Face of Evil’ killer, Kim Snibson.
Former premier Neville Wran’s daughter Harriet Wran was incarcerated here and so was Lindy Chamberlain, briefly, before going to Darwin’s Berrimah jail and eventually being exonerated over daughter Azaria’s death.
Mulawa’s alumni also includes Australia’s most dangerous women – convicted murderer Rebecca Butterfield, Debbie Marie Adams who murdered a teacher with a cooking knife, and baby killers Keli Lane, Rachel Pfitzner and Kristy Abrahams.
These criminals are either dead, out or in different prisons, although Silverwater’s current inmates will claim there are still frightening and violent women who stand over and intimidate others in the yard.
Julie Cashman, aka the Angel of Death, and baby killer Keli Lane are among the alumni at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre still known by its former name, Mulawa
Inmates with Cardinal George Pell during a pastoral visit to Silverwater Women’s in 2009. The prisoners including Australia’s cannibal killer Katherine Knight (with her hand on Pell’s shoulder) and ‘Face of Evil’ killer, Kim Snibson (front second left, in red shirt)
Handwritten letter from a woman inmate who underwent the program for incarcerated mothers, MAAD, expressing her gratitude for books to send to her stepsons on the outside
The veteran jail boss of 35 years is not a regular viewer of TV shows like ‘Wentworth’ or ‘Orange Is The New Black’ which portray women’s prisons as hotbeds of sex and drama, and says they are a little ‘out of reality’.
‘The bottom line is they are violent places, there is self harm,’ Mr Raper said.
‘Sex? It happens but it’s not as prevalent as everyone expects.’
He said female inmates are ‘more needy’ than male prisoners, and Silverwater Women’s status means they are less settled.
The prison records four to five incidents a day ranging from ‘drugs, officer assault, and abusing staff, the usual gamut of behaviour in jail’.
The jail is now principally a remand and reception centre, like the massive Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre up the road which holds about 1,200 male inmates, meaning prisoners not in the routine of serving time are more volatile.
Prison officer Steph said Dillwynia prison, Australia’s largest women’s jail at Windsor, is ‘a lot more settled’ with female prisoners doing longer sentences for murder, violence and serious drug offences.
The hot menu included lamb ratatouille (above) and although some inmates described the food as tasting bad, it is nutritionally balanced and labelled to cater for food intolerances
Lunch time in the Teresa Wing at Silverwater Women’s prison. Inmates sit around a table, some preferring to take the hot meal during the day rather than eating it cold later on when they are locked in for the night at 2.30pm
‘Silverwater Women’s has such a high turnover, some first-time custodies, that their needs are heightened,’ she said.
Mr Raper said that women entering the prison can be withdrawing from drugs and alcohol and have mental health issues, while most are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.
In one of Silverwater Women’s twelve accommodation units called Teresa Wing, it’s lunchtime and the women are eating hot meals in aluminium trays prepared by Corrective Services Industries and reheated by inmates in a kitchen.
On the dinner menu is lamb ratatouille, although other inmates in the day room are eating vegemite and cheese rolls. Some prefer to eat hot meals at lunchtime rather than cold dishes in their cells, where they are locked in at 2.30pm.
One inmate said the nutritionally balanced meals, packaged and labelled with every ingredient, ‘taste like s**t’.
The woman with greying hair has been in various NSW prisons 16 times for offences relating to her heroin addiction, and says most of her fellow inmates have been charged with offences relating to drugs.
‘Ninety per cent of us are drug takers,’ she said.
‘Cellies’, inmates D 23, and C 27, are locked in their shared cell 17 hours a night so the friends make sure they keep it ‘nice and pretty, all really neat, very homely and not depressing’
Inmate B holds up her painting which she said was a depiction of a spirit place and which she hopes to turn into a business selling art when she eventually gets released from prison (B’s cell)
In Teresa Wing, two young prisoners and cellmates C 27, and D 23, are keen to show off their tiny and tidy cell where they spend 17 hours in each other’s company every night.
The cell has two bunk beds, a toilet and a small separate shower unit with a curtain rod which by day serves as a hanger for clothes.
A set of shelves holds their prison greens which the two women share because they are the same size.
On the narrow table is a tablet for calls to pre-approved contacts, but not connected to the internet, and hanging behind it are personal items which C says they ‘keep nice and pretty, all really neat, very homely and not depressing’.
They are relieved to have become best friends and ‘cellies’ together after the ‘daunting’ process of their initial incarceration among strangers, followed by a gradual integration into prison life.
Teresa Wing, one of Silverwater Women’s 12 accommodation units where every day there is a mandatory turnover of six cells, as well as ‘targeted searches of certain inmates’ according to prison intelligence
Inmates C, J, K1 and K2 said induction into prison is ‘scary’ and that in the yards there are women who standover and intimidate others but the four support each other
The women worked with an artist to paint this mural on the wall of the visitor room which gave them a sense of achievement and brightened up the scene especially for children
‘It’s a small world when you do a crime,’ C said, ‘you know someone who knows someone who knows the (female inmate) and you help out girls, help someone out.
‘You might give them shampoo or conditioner, and then you might come back in with nothing and you need help.’
She said of her relationship with the female prison officer on her wing: ‘If you are of good behaviour and respectful to the officer it’s fine, if you are naughty forget it’.
Being ‘naughty’ includes violence, threats and concealing contraband such as mobile phones or drugs.
Raper explains he combats this with a mandatory turnover of six cells every day in each wing such as Teresa, as well as ‘targeted searches of certain inmates’ according to prison intelligence.
Over the the hand-carved sandstone gates at the maximum security men’s prisons at Bathurst and Goulburn is a sculptured lion’s head holding a key, a Victorian era symbol to impress wrongdoers with the immense power of the law.
Legend is that when the key falls from the lion’s mouth, all prisoners all allowed to go free.
Inmates downstairs at the building which holds a library and the workshop where prisoners earn money cleaning and unravelling Qantas headsets that are then returned to the airline
A female prison officer at one of the many security gates inside the SWCC jail which has hundreds of mostly remand inmates awaiting trial
Prison officer at Silverwater Women’s where they have made efforts to douse tensions among inmates which rose under Covid lockdowns when boredom, feelings of futility and frustration bubbled up
Above the security scanners at the entrance of Silverwater Women’s, a fluffy toy lion’s head with a key in its mouth looks like a friendly welcome.
But a series of heavy security lock doors – the next one doesn’t open until the previous one closes – into the complex enhances the feeling of leaving the world behind.
The prison has made efforts to defuse tensions among inmates which increased under Covid lockdowns due to boredom, feelings of futility and frustration.
Sunil Sareen, the manager in charge of rostering and ensuring inmates have a purposeful day, said the ‘horrendous’ Covid lockdowns had eased and 800 new prison officers had been recruited.
Mulawa women’s prison was opened in the 20th century and was previously the maximum security facility for serious violent offenders but now houses a greater percentage of remand inmates
A craft project undertaken by a female inmate leading up to Christmas when many women will spend the day behind bars apart from loved ones
Parcel containing the drug buprenorphine (above) intercepted by prison officers after it was attached to a drone that intended to drop it into Shortland Correctional Centre at Cessnock
DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SILVERWATER WOMEN’S PRISON INMATE
Before 7.30am: Women are still in their cells, eating breakfast of bread and condiments and tea or coffee with an extra milk ration for females.
7.30: Let out of cells and can attend education activities, programs, receive professional legal visits, family visits, make court appearances via AVL and visit the medical clinic or the prison chapel.
11am-12pm: Lunch in the wing with fellow inmates. Women inmates can opt to have their ‘hot’ lunch at this time, heated served in a aluminium tray.
2.30PM: Back in cells, taking dinner or sandwich or salad meal for the 17 hours locked in with a cellmate.
Female inmate is let through a gate at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre where she will spend seven hours a day before being locked in her shared cell for 17 hours each night
Inside one of two visitor rooms, four inmates stand before the mural they painted of banana palms, flowers and a peacock.
The women admire their artwork, and then respond to a question of what it was like to first come into jail, agreeing to be identified only as K1, K2, C and J.
They are all on remand, three on drug charges, K1 for something she doesn’t discuss.
J is the woman who was strip-searched twice at a different prison and then once at Silverwater.
‘It was scary,’ she said.
‘Even if they were nice it’s like they have power over your body.
‘The holding cells at the bottom of the court room are concrete slabs. It was an absolute shock. There were a lot of tears.
‘It’s intense. It’s scary in the yard.’
Silverater Women’s Correctional Centre, once known as Mulawa, has been home to some of Australia’s most violent females including the cannibal killer Katherine Knight and ‘Face of Evil’ killer Kim Snibson
Visitors are warned not bring alcohol, drugs, mobile phones, weapons and other items including cigarettes, which have been banned in all prisons across NSW
K1 said once she had become an inmate she had to work out how ‘to shut out the ones you don’t get along with’ and befriending ‘the ones you can have rapport’.
The inmates, who all live on the same wing, described the ‘hotbed of drama’ out in the prison yards.
‘There’s intimidation, (women) trying to stand over you for what they think they can get from you. There are people who act like queen bee’.
The key was keeping busy with a prison job for longer-term inmates such as the Qantas headset workshop where they earn $15 a day, plus bonuses making up to $35 or $40.
The workshops at Silverwater and at Dillwynia unravel, clean and repack first class and economy headsets.
Senior Overseer Baldev Dhillon said inmates were relieved to back in business after the workshop was ‘dead’ during Covid.
The women said when they were locked up mid-afternoon for the ‘very long night’, they passed the time with books from the library which stocks mystery, romance and even murder and crime novels. They also watch TV, and use the tablet for 10 minute calls to six private numbers and four legal contacts.
A truck delivers breakfast, lunch and other meals for the hundreds of inmates at the jail
The high number of inmates with children inspired one of the prison’s programs MAAD, or Mothering At A Distance, to help those struggling with the enormity of being an mum behind bars.
‘You don’t realise what you have done, bad things, until you are in here,’ one of six women in the MAAD class said.
All from the same prison wing, one of the women said having their children’s names written on the whiteboard ‘helps us remember we are mothers… when you are trying not to die as a mother’.
‘It brings us closer when that feeling inside that needs to be let loose, the hurt and stress… it helps us remember we do have people who love us out there, little people.’
‘Some of us were full-time mothers,’ said one of the inmates who had been in prison for seven years, ‘we have lost our children, the trauma when you lose your children, you kind of lose everything.’
Out in the prison yard, inmates are playing volleyball.
Female inmates lie on the grass in the yard at Silverwater Women’s prison which houses 220 prisoners in maximum security
A prison officer watches on as the inmates go inside where there is gym equipment, arts and crafts, while some prisoners study legal books and documents related to their court cases
A young woman complains about being confined to her cell after failing a prison drug test while her 42-year-old friend and recidivist drug offender has a more relaxed attitude to confinement.
‘Of course tensions boil over and then the stress only makes it worse, but you learn to adapt,’ she said.
‘You can’t rely on other people to address your issues with drugs and alcohol, or the reason you’re always going to jail.
‘Most of the time we try and make it work, us girls.’
Beyond the volleyball court, a semi-circle of exercise machines are mounted on the grass below the high fence topped with rolls of razor wire glinting in the sun.
Mr Raper said Buprenorphine – or ‘Bupe’ in jail parlance – is ‘very much so’ the biggest drug problem. But since smoking was banned in prisons, tobacco gets thrown over the fence, along with other contraband including mobile phones or SIM cards.
The prison value of a strip or tablet of ‘Bupe’ can reportedly run as high as $1,000.
In 2020, while Mr Raper was governor of Shortland Correctional Centre at Cessnock, staff foiled a brazen plan for an aerial drone drop of $100,00 worth of Bupe into the prison.
During Covid, people threw bags of drugs over the razor wire, but prison governor Simon Raper says as well as vigialnt guards, he’s got a new hi-tech radar device to enable detection and arrest
Silverwater Women’s governor Simon Raper will mark his 35 years in corrections in 2023 while Maddy (right) is one of the first of 800 new recruits trained and working in prisons after the pandemic
Each prison officer collects a duress alarm (right) from the front of the jail every morning with its own distinctive call sign to indicate which officer is down when it sounds and an Immediate Action Team responds
Officers intercepted a tennis ball of Bupe outside the centre on a Saturday, and three days later found a drone with a line of string attached to a package inside a vehicle.
The package allegedly contained 108 buprenorphine strips and 42 tablets. A woman and three men were charged over the incident.
Raper hopes more drugs will be intercepted by an advanced AI-enabled radar system called Osprey which detects small objects propelled over fences.
‘Officers work collectively to prevent contraband entering correctional centres from listening to phone calls, reading mail, performing targeted and random search operations, visitor searches and using security technology,’ he said.
‘Every centre I’ve worked in has had success using the examples mentioned.’
Out in an old area of the jail, a prison officer is practising a drill with his duress alarm, which officers collect each morning inside the front of the prison, and which have a unique call sign which will indicate which man or woman is down in the case of an emergency.
Each jail has an IAT (Immediate Action Team) to respond to riots, assaults, or injury of any officer inside the prison.
No women’s prison has had a riot, but an IAT team armed with gas masks, shields, truncheons and tear gas is prepared to deploy if one does occur.
A Corrective Services spokeswoman said that ‘large-scale incidents are very rare, including at women’s prisons.
‘Chemical munitions are used as a management tool for men and women in custody when all other options have been exhausted.’
Mr Raper said: ‘I have been involved in a number of incidents throughout my career. These incidents can be traumatic for both staff and inmates, but CSNSW have a great support system after these types of incidents.’
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