Cooma Correctional Centre

Cooma Correctional Centre (Cooma CC) is a medium security facility that can accommodate 175 men. A separate minimum security area known as Area 2 is located approximately 500 metres away from the main gaol with accommodation for up to 50 men classified as minimum security. Cooma CC is located on the land of the Ngarigo people. It is situated in the heart of Cooma, approximately 400 kms from Sydney. It is the most southern correctional centre in NSW and can experience cold winters. 

Cooma CC was established in 1873 as Cooma gaol and served as a police gaol, mental health facility and correctional facility before it closed in the early 1900s. It reopened in 1957 and was used to imprison gay men, transwomen and non-binary people for the crime of homosexuality until it was decriminalised in 1984. Cooma gaol was closed again in 1998, and reopened as ‘Cooma Correctional Centre’ in November 2001 due to a substantial increase in inmate numbers in NSW.

We first inspected Cooma CC in 2015 as part of our report Prison Greens: The clothing and bedding of inmates in NSW (PDF, 511.9 KB). The second time we inspected Cooma CC was in 2020 for the Inspection of Cooma Correctional Centre 2020 report (PDF, 2.3 MB). 

We most recently inspected Cooma CC in January 2025 for the Inspection of Cooma Correctiona Centre 2025 (PDF, 3.0 MB) report that was tabled in NSW Parliament on 17 December 2025. In this report we made 20 recommendations. The media release for this report can be found here (PDF, 47.2 KB)