Corrective Services NSW

Busting the myths behind prison greens

24 JULY 2025

Forget what you've seen on television - orange may be the new black in American dramas, but in NSW, it's all about bottle green. Inside NSW correctional centres, both male and female inmates dress in unmistakable "prison greens”. 

Inmates across NSW wear a standard-issue set of clothing to clearly distinguish them from staff and visitors.  

 

Eight male inmates dressed in green, standing in a circle, some holding tennis balls
Image: Male inmates in their greens
Table with 3 piles of green shorts in foreground, and the back of a man in a green shirt sitting ata sewing machine
Image: Inmates making prison greens
Piles of green fabric cut out into shapes and laid out on a table
Image: Prison greens cut and ready for sewing

This uniform isn’t just handed out; it is manufactured within the prison walls themselves, carefully constructed by the inmates working in Corrective Services Industries (CSI). 

The initial clothing handed to each inmate at reception in NSW consists of:

Male

  • 4 t-shirts
  • 2 fleecy tracksuit tops
  • 2 pairs fleecy tracksuit pants
  • 2 pairs of shorts
  • 4 singlets
  • 7 underpants
  • 7 pairs of socks
  • 1 pair of shoes.

Female

  • 5 t-shirts
  • 4 singlets
  • 7 underpants
  • 7 pairs of socks
  • 2 pyjamas
  • 4 sports bras
  • 1 hat or cap
  • 1 pair thongs
  • 1 pair shoes.

So it is green because…

There are many theories about the choice of green – from the low cost of the dye to dogs being trained to notice and/or attack those in green but most can be debunked.

The myths

  1. White is the cheapest colour to produce, along with blue, black and beige.
  2. Dogs are colour-blind and mainly see blue and yellow, green comes across as a dull grey.
  3. It is not historical, convicts wore white shirts stamped with government markings, a ‘broad arrow’ and sometimes the letters ‘PB’ (which stood for Prisoners Barracks). This was so that people in the town knew that the men were convicts.
  4. Green fabric is durable and hides stains, but it is olive green that is highly regarded not bottle green, and navy blue or charcoal are also excellent for durability and hiding stains.
  5. The colour green is often associated with calmness, which may help reduce tensions within the prison environment, but blue is considered the colour to counteract tension and is linked to lowered blood pressure and brown is seen as stable and reliable.
  6. It has been speculated that green fabric dye is fade proof allowing for constant wash and wear, but it is tan and light green that handle repeated washing the best.

 

Four women seated in armchairs in front of an bright yellow indigenous artwork, wearing green tshirts and shorts, and sneakers.
Image: Female inmates in their greens

Tell me why…

So why do NSW inmates wear bottle green? Perhaps it is simply because every other colour was taken – NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW correctional officers wear blue, the State Emergency Service (SES) wear orange, NSW Police Rescue dress in white overalls, Fire and Rescue NSW wear combinations of yellow, black and white.

While the bottle green offers a contrast to the blue worn by custodial staff, making it easy to distinguish inmates at a glance, according to a spokesperson from the CSNSW Museum in Cooma, inmates in NSW correctional centres wear bottle green simply “because that is the colour that was chosen.”

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