But where did these uniforms come from? 

Prisoners have almost exclusively been dressed in green since the 1970s, however this wasn't always the case.

Service delivery officer Zoe Whiting said an exhibition, Guilty in Green, is designed to explore how uniforms for both staff and prisoners changed over the 150 years Maitland Gaol operated.

“We put it together to give people an idea of what sort of uniforms we had in our collection but also to indicate how over 150 years, a lot changed in terms of the evolution of uniforms for prisoner and corrective services staff,” she said. 

“It gives people a glimpse into the past, and gives an idea of the symbolism in the gaol – prisoners wear green, corrections services staff wear blue.”

Originally Maitland Gaol was a prison outpost, far from the bustling streets of Sydney. Many early prisoners were forced to wear the clothes they came with, no matter how filthy they were because the Gaol just didn't have the supply of uniforms to fit them out. 

 The exhibition aims to give visitors an understanding of uniforms through the ages, for both prisoners and prison officers.

“In the 1970s, they trialled an era of letting the prisoners wear their own clothing but then you saw a lot of people escaping from the shower block because they were not as easily identified,” Ms Whiting said. 

A collection of uniforms will be on display to signify the distinct difference between prisoners and prison officers.  “Most of the uniforms are donations from the families of people who worked in the prison,” Ms Whiting said. 

“There’s been a lot of interest around the exhibition. 

“We are very keen to see how children respond because they always expect the prisoner uniform to be orange because of American television. “

The exhibition at Maitland Gaol will run from Saturday, December 22 to March 10, 2019.