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What life looks like for Jarryd Hayne inside Cooma jail
EXCLUSIVE
Words: Linda SilmalisProducer: Bianca Farmakis
This story discusses sexual assault. If you, or anyone you know needs support, contact:Lifeline 13 11 14Beyond Blue 1300 224 636;1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732
After being sentenced to five years and nine months in prison, former NRL player and convicted rapist Jarryd Hayne now resides in NSW’s oldest operating jail:Cooma Correctional Centre.
The athlete has traded stadium lights for up to 17 hours a day in a dark cell, his ‘comforts’ a double metal bunk, open toilet and slim window slit shrouded with sheets to protect against the weather.
Once a psychiatric asylum, Cooma Correctional Centre is now home to a host of “Public Interest Inmates” sent to the high-security facility due to the attention their crimes caused, and the threat they may face in jail.
Protection inmates are at the bottom of the food chain. They are protected prisoners at other jails because they owe money, are high-profile or fear for their safety. They come here and lose that protection, like every other inmate.
Prison guard | Cooma Correctional Centre
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Hayne — now known as Prisoner 661736 — entered the facility in May, 2021 after three weeks at Parklea jail. During that first stint, he was recognised by prisoners on arrival and pegged with apples.
THE VERDICT
Hayne was convicted of sexually assaulting a fan on NRL grand final night in 2018. Found guilty by a second jury, Judge Helen Syme noted Hayne only stopped assaulting the victim when he noticed blood on his hands. 
COOMA'S PAST
Built in the 1870s, Cooma prison was reopened in the late 1950s as a jail. The prison shut in 1998 only to reopen in 2001 to cope with the state’s soaring prison population. Dubbed a “white collar prison”, its population includes corporate criminals and corrupt politicians.
Hayne is among a long list of high-profile prisoners that have ended up in Cooma. Among them is, ex-minister Eddie Obeid, ex-cop Roger Rogerson, A-list drug dealer Richard Buttrose, former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer and banker Oliver Curtis, the husband of PR maven Roxy Jacenko.
HIGH PROFILE
WORK WEEK
Inmates are introduced to work in the 'sewing room', creating underpants and high-vis vests that earn them between $26 - $50 weekly. Hayne started in the sewing room, but now works in the laundry business. A prison officer told The Saturday Telegraph he was “no seamstress”.
Inmates are given roast beef sandwiches and spring rolls for lunch and roast chicken with chat potatoes in an airline-style container for dinner. Every day, breakfast is the same : cereal with coffee or tea.
DINING TIME
SIX HOUR DAYS
In the brief period inmates are not locked in their cells, they attend the outdoor gym, play basketball and rent TVs with work money. Activities may keep inmates’ minds busy but the harsh reality of where they are comes at 3.30pm, when they are locked in their cells until 8am the next day.
PENDING APPEAL
Hayne, who once earned $1.2 million a season in the NRL, has placed his pursuit of freedom in the hands of leading NSW lawyer Tim Game SC, one of the best appeal lawyers in the country. He can charge up to $14,000 a day.
None of Hayne’s former teammates or friends will discuss the case, keeping a protective bubble around him, much as they did before he went to prison.
The victim, who has never spoken outside court, remains traumatised and friends say she is dreading the appeal process, marking the third time she has had to relive the ordeal in public. 

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