Three minimum and maximum security prisons loom above Cessnock, but little is known about what goes on inside.
ACM was invited inside Shortland Correctional Centre (SCC), one of the city's maximum-security facilities for male offenders, this week for a rare tour ahead of National Corrections Day on Friday, January 20.
SCC holds 616 inmates at maximum capacity, and about 30 per cent of its sentenced inmates are from the Hunter.
Being a maximum security prison, every nook and cranny is under surveillance, everything in the blocks is bolted down and you can't even open a door in a corridor without approval.
Inside SCC, inmates have the opportunity to go to work at one of the facility's businesses through Corrective Services Industries (CSI).
Inmates are employed in a variety of industries onsite; a grocery 'buy-ups' warehouse, maintenance, textiles manufacturing, a bakery, print shop, laundry, food processing, and packaging and handling.
They also get the opportunity to undertake traineeships, so they have skills that will help them gain employment once they've served their sentence.
There are 220 inmates at SCC who go to the industries buildings for work, five days a week.
Of those, 27 are currently taking on traineeships, and 12 are on the waiting list to start one.
Not only do they supply food and clothing for their own correctional facility, but they supply goods to other facilities state-wide.
About 12 months ago, the facility made the switch from using general-population inmates as industry workers to the protected inmates, and there has been an astounding increase in productivity.
Inmates are protected when there may be a threat to their safety - this could be due to the nature of the crime committed, or because they are from a non-violent background.
Shortland Correctional Centre acting governor Phill Dunn said previously, inmates weren't very keen to work and very few took on training opportunities, but the protected inmates have a strong work ethic and like to keep busy.
Mr Dunn said getting skills and qualifications that will help the inmates gain employment in the future means they are much less likely to end up back in prison in the future.
"It's all targeted to reduce the re-offending rate," he said.
ACM spoke to two inmates, who cannot legally be identified, who are working while serving their sentences.
The first has completed a certificate II in warehousing while in the facility, and is currently studying a certificate III.
He has worked his way up the ranks and in grocery buy-ups and now has a supervisory role.
"It makes the day go a lot quicker," he said.
The second works in the textiles department, and said they make everything from coffin liners to sports shirts.
He said it's a great opportunity to leave the facility with a trade qualification.
"It's got to be better for everyone," he said.
"You couldn't do this when I got here 10 years ago."
Going to work means inmates earn a small wage, which they can use on phone calls and grocery buy-ups - things like toiletries, tea, snacks and extra food.
SCC Business Unit manager Col Austen said inmates gaining qualifications is a big goal for all the industries at the facility, as it helps them get employment when they leave.
"They get a certificate and a start," he said.
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