Body-scanned, stripsearched: what Chris Dawson faces now

Chris Dawson will be given seven slices of bread a day and his clothes will be confiscated if taken to Silverwater prison in Sydney’s west.

Chris Dawson spent his first night as a convicted killer in a lonely cell below a Sydney police station.

Dawson was transferred from court to the secure cells at Surry Hills police station, where he was confined on his own for his protection as a high-profile inmate.

He is likely to be transferred again first thing on Wednesday. Like other inmates will be given dinners at about 3pm and be ­assigned rations.

While his lawyer Greg Walsh will make a bail application on Thursday, plans were in place for Dawson to be taken straight into custody by Corrective Services NSW security staff after his conviction at the Supreme Court.

Dawson will now begin the ­reception process, which includes initial inmate screening questionnaires and lodgment of paperwork at the courthouse.

He will be taken in an inmate transport truck to either Parklea Correctional Centre, or the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Correctional Centre, known as Silverwater prison, where he will undergo more comprehensive screening.

Dawson has already been through the ID process, including an iris scan and fingerprinting. That happened when he was first taken into custody following his arrest in December 2018.

He will be identified by his ­offender number previously allocated to him in the Corrective Services NSW computer system.

If taken to Silverwater in Sydney’s west, he will be body-scanned or stripsearched and all his clothes will be confiscated. The exception is his underpants, if he prefers to wear his own. Otherwise, the prison will provide a regulation pair of underwear.

Chris Dawson and his brother Paul (L) arrives at the Supreme Court for the verdict. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard.

His prison kit includes a green T-shirt, shorts, tracksuit and a pair of prison-issued shoes.

A toiletries pack contains a razor, toothbrush and toothpaste, and soap. Anything else has to be ordered off a list for the weekly buy-up, limited to spending a maximum of $100. Dinner is served at 3pm, the only hot meal of the day, heated up from a chill-pack. There is no dining room. All meals are eaten in the cells.

Offenders are handed rations consisting of milk, cereal and seven slices of bread to go with sachets of coffee and tea bags.

He will bed down in a cell equipped with a steel toilet, kettle or jug and sandwich maker, ­before waking for morning muster at 7am.

There are similar processes and conditions at Parklea prison in the northwestern suburbs of Sydney.

All inmates entering custody are assigned an initial classification, taking into account factors such as the seriousness of the ­offence, length of sentence and any previous criminal or custodial history, including escape attempts.

Dawson’s lack of any prior criminal history will be in his favour. He has no gang or bikie ­affiliations or non-association ­orders with other inmates.

However, he may be in need of protection due to the high-profile nature of the offence.

Once an inmate is sentenced, they are reclassified. They are then held in correctional centres appropriate to their security classification. Sentenced inmates are generally accommodated in correctional centres in regional areas where they can participate in work, education or rehabilitation programs. They can also be classified to a centre to participate in a specific educational or therapeutic program.