Fallen NRL star Jarryd Hayne has started a brutal new life as a maximum security prisoner who is body searched and locked in a small cell.
His final prison sentence is said to have begun when the convicted rapist was handcuffed inside the steel walls of a prison van and taken to one of Sydney’s squalid prisons.
Hayne, 35, is transferred by ferry to the huge Metropolitan Remand and Reception Center in Silverwater in western Sydney.
There, the two-time Dally M Medalist will search the full body strip, swap his jacket, tie, and loafers for prison greens and runners, and return his old prison or MIN number.
Hayne’s new attire will consist of bottle green sweatpants and top, and a t-shirt and he will receive a toiletry pack containing a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.
Hayne can either keep his own underpants or get prison underwear in the same dark green knit fabric as the clothes.
He will be photographed before his prison mugshot and undergo a medical and psychological evaluation, during which health personnel will assess whether he is at risk of suicide or self-harm, and evaluate the needs of any ongoing physical health problems.
A grim Jarryd Hayne and his wife Amellia Bonnici arrive at court to learn his fate – and two hours and 30 minutes later he was led to jail, a convicted rapist sent to prison
Ms Bonnici comes out of court after her husband Jarryd Hayne was handcuffed and taken to prison. She clung to him crying and they hugged several times, before he wiped away the tears and was taken into custody by a prison officer.
Hayne is then taken through the Parklea prison corridors and placed in a single cell with an open metal toilet and shower.
The ex-Parramatta fullback was emotional on Friday afternoon when NSW High Court Judge Richard Button sent him back to jail.
Despite emotional courtroom scenes as he hugged his wife Amellia Bonnici and family, Hayne was led to the cells below with grim resignation by a prison guard, knowing the bleak reality of what was to come.
For the next 25 days until sentencing, Hayne will occupy a three-by-ten-foot cell in the prison’s security wing, avoiding being beaten by another inmate for his notoriety.
Despite not having physical contact with other inmates, Hayne could easily be housed alongside rapists and murderers who also need protection.
Jarryd Hayne (above) spent his last hours of freedom on Thursday and has begun a brutal new life behind bars as a convicted rapist in the state prison system, where he will be held in isolation
Hayne will be searched and have his police photo taken before being placed in a small holding cell at Silverwater Prison (above) in western Sydney
A court heard last week how Hayne had already been threatened via Twitter with sexual assault in the prison showers and the ominous “Bib Bubba awaits.”
Another person suggested, “Should lock him up with some guys and teach him what it’s like when your permission is ignored.”
The threats, Hayne’s third high-profile trial on rape allegations and his prominence as a footballer resulted in extraordinary testimony at a detention hearing last week.
A NSW spokesperson for Corrective Services told Daily Mail Australia on Friday that ‘CSNSW is committed to ensuring the well-being and safety of all prisoners.
“In the event that an offender needs to be managed as a protected detainee, CSNSW has appropriate housing and procedures in place to do so.”
A Parklea Correctional Center manager, Geraint Roberts, told the court that Hayne would likely be classified as a non-association inmate until sentencing, meaning he would be in maximum security.
This means that Hayne will be placed in a single cell, will not mix with other inmates, officers only, and will have limited hours outside of his cell.
Hayne’s wife Amellia and their three children will be able to see him in Silverwater Prison (above), but it will be in the stark confines of a prison visiting room surrounded by criminals and their families
Hayne is once being evicted in a Silverwater remand cell, where he will remain for three weeks until he receives his sentence for sexual assault in a Sydney court in May.
Mr Roberts said when someone entered custody, their placement within depended on whether they were sex offenders, child sex offenders or high-profile prisoners.
Jeremiah Pdteru, head of security at Parklea Prison, who said he knew Hayne was a famous footballer, told the court that when an inmate had committed sex crimes, he often had a “non-association” rating.
“He will be kept separate from all other prisoners coming out of the vehicle, he will not have any interactions or behavior with other prisoners,” Mr Pdteru said.
Whether in Parklea or Silverwater, Hayne will be separated from attacks by other inmates for his own safety.
Even if he gets to the jail late this afternoon for the usual 3:30 incarceration, Hayne gets a jail dinner.
It will be a ‘cook chill’ meal in a foil dish with – meat and vegetables, or vegetarian – to take into his cell when he is locked up for the night.
He also gets his breakfast to eat in his cell on Saturday morning, consisting of slices of bread, jam, rice bubbles, tea or coffee and some long-life milk.
Hayne will undergo further examinations next week and will be given lunches of sandwiches or pasta salads with fruit to eat in his cell.
His wife Amellia and their three children will be able to see him, but in the stark confines of a prison visiting room, surrounded by criminals and their families.
Mrs. Bonnici plans to move to a rural location with her three children while Hayne serves his time, and depending on where his prison sentence is, it could be a long journey.
He may speak to up to six designated persons on a public telephone used by all inmates.
Each conversation can last up to six minutes.
Jarryd Hayne (above left Cooma Prison last year) has yet to learn how many years behind bars his conviction for two rapes will earn him when he is sentenced on May 8.
Hayne is allowed to spend about $100 a week on “buy-ups” — items such as toiletries, cookies, and packaged food — if the money is deposited into his prison bank account.
He will also attend meetings with a classification committee to assess which correctional facility will be most appropriate as his “prison sentence” for his incarceration once court Judge Graham Turnbull decides on May 8 how long Hayne should spend behind bars.
Hayne last spent nearly ten months at Cooma Correctional Center when he was convicted of the rape in 2018 before overturning the conviction on appeal.
Cooma Prison, one of NSW’s oldest, could be as much as seven hours away from where Hayne’s young family is moving.