The current structure incorporates a massive, heritage-listed hand-carved sandstone gate and façade that was opened in 1884 based on designs by the Colonial Architect, James Barnet.

The opening of the gaol was part of the public works boom in the town during the 1869- 6 period and boosted employment as well as local industry.

Steam cooking facilities were installed and a 70-foot (21 m) chimney was erected, new workshops were planned to create one of the most complete prison complexes in NSW.

[7][6] For eighty years up to the 1970s, Goulburn was the establishment within the NSW penal system with a particular role in the reformation of first time and young offenders.

It had a long history of agricultural and industrial training and education and built up a strong economic and social association with the town of Goulburn.

It involved the extension of the perimeter walls to include a new industrial and sports area and the construction of a high security segregation unit.

[4] In 2015, Goulburn attracted controversy after a prisoner who was housed in the maximum security wing escaped after he cut through a gate at the back of a small secure exercise yard attached to his cell, tied bed sheets together to scale a wall, and put a pillow around his waist to avoid being hurt by razor wire.

[9][10] In the same year the Minister for Corrections announced that security would be tightened following a breach when an inmate was caught with a contraband mobile phone that he used to upload pictures and text to a social media website.

Initially called the High-Risk Management Unit (HRMU, also referred to by inmates as HARM-U), it was Australia's first Supermax prison since the closure of the Katingal facility at the Long Bay Correctional Centre in 1978.

Goulburn HRMCC has received complaints by prisoners, including the lack of natural light and fresh air; access to legal books; the use of isolation and solitary confinement; limited and enclosed exercise; self-mutilation and harsh treatment.

[18] In spite of the security measures inside the HRMCC, in June 2011 it was reported that an unnamed inmate in the centre had allegedly smuggled a mobile phone into the unit and plotted two kidnappings and a shooting.

[20][6] Goulburn Correctional Centre was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

The Goulburn Correctional Centre has a recorded association with a number of famous and infamous characters, both staff and inmates, including a Victoria Cross winner, bushrangers, larrikins, labour leaders and murderers.