Cooma jail in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains in Australia operated as a “gay prison” from 1957 to the 1970s, possibly the only facility of its kind in the world. It was intended to isolate men convicted of homosexual offences as part of a covert government experiment to develop techniques to “cure” homosexuality. The 8-episode podcast “The Greatest Menace” released in February 2020 detailed the reopening of the Cooma facility as a dedicated gay prison and the use of police entrapment. A state inquiry into the causes and treatments of homosexuality was also launched, which used inmates as research subjects.
In a follow-up episode released this week, former Cooma prison inmate David*, now in his 80s, spoke about his experience there for the first time. David was arrested in 1961 by police posing as gay men, charged with “attempt to procure active indecency with a male person,” and sent to Cooma jail. “Prison itself was terrifying, all the time,” David said. He was released after serving nine months of a 12-month sentence, but never recovered from his time behind bars.
The Greatest Menace has resulted in a number of new leads since its release. Its producers, Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, continue to work together to follow every lead that’s come through. Abboud is pressing the New South Wales government to formally acknowledge the role that former state governments and police played in the unjust treatment of queer people, which he describes as a “dark stain on our history”.
