What happens behind the scenes in Australia’s most controversial jail

Such is the level of trust between inmates and officers inside Macquarie Correctional Centre what would be considered weapons in other jails are freely handed to prisoners.

A maximum security prisoner was handed a blow torch by jail staff to write “Will you marry me?” on the lemon meringue cake he had just made for the love of his life.

Such is the level of trust between inmates and officers at the state’s most controversial and successful corrections centres.

Jim, not his real name, was serving a ten year sentence for drug manufacturing when he rekindled a relationship with the young woman he’d met three years before being locked up at Macquarie Correctional Centre.

“I was young. She was young, and we kind of drifted apart. I went down the crime way at the age of 22 and got a ten year sentence,” he said.

“I was actually a plumber before this. I kind of fell into a hole where I was struggling financially and I needed money,” he said.

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“I’m not going to say here I didn’t deserve what I did. I deserved it. But I lost everything. My whole twenties. So anyways, I got back in contact with this girl. We started seeing each other. Talking, talking, talking. And, you know, once, you know, you know.”

Jim had agreed to follow the jail’s pro-social rules and take up the opportunities that came his way.

Inside the Grills and Gates cafe where prisoners learn to cook at Macquarie Correctional Centre. Picture: Supplied

He found working in the popular jail cafe gave him purpose, taught him skills and made him consider a future.

“So I found out her favourite cake and asked Miss Bell, who runs the cafe, if it would be all right if I made the cake,” he said.

“She gave me the opportunity, she gave me the ingredients and everything. And then I asked if it would be all right if I get engaged on a visit. Now don’t forget to get engaged in the visit you have to get off your green chair.

Prisoners make their way to the exercise yard inside Macquarie Correctional Centre. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“We have to sit on these green chairs. So … you need approval for that, too. Then I had to think ‘What about the ring’? How is the ring going to come in here? So my family gave the ring to an officer. The officers gave the ring a check that everything was sweet. Then they gave it to me.”

Next was the final touches on the lemon meringue cake.

“I wanted to write ‘Marry me’ on the meringue. You need a flame to burn the sugar. Yes. They gave me a blow torch to burn the writing in it. So once again, the level of trust, the level of respect.”

Prisoners are given freedom inside dorms where they sleep instead of cells. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

That respect goes both ways.

“I don’t see many of the officers as officers. I see them as a human being, just like anyone I would see in the street or my neighbour or whatnot,” he said.

“You say Hello. You learn there’s nothing wrong with saying you’re not a dog if you say hello to someone’. “

The prisoner is among those who sat with former detective Gary Jubelin for his podcast Breaking Badness. One was doing time for murder, another 20 years for drug offences, a third on terrorism charges.

“Most people just think we’re scum, we deserve jail,” another inmate said.

“We know there’s the law and there’s police. And if you break the law, you deserve to be punished. Some people deserve to be in jail. Some people deserve to be in jail for longer than others. And some people just have an accident and end up in jail. They’ve never done anything wrong in their life and all of a sudden they’re treated the same.”

Another revealed his apprehension: “When I came here, I was very stand-offish, very tight-lipped, didn’t talk to no one, always had my back to the wall kind of thing, you know, because that’s how it is in other jails. Any minute you walk out of the cell you might not be walking back in that night.

“But here you are actually a human. Because you’re around people, you start slowly getting comfortable again. “This person’s talking to me. He’s asking me how my mother is, or he’s actually interested in me and my life.

“Other places, it’s not like that.”

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