When the first girls arrived at Hay in 1961 the cell block was unprepared and it was the work of the girls to scrub and paint the walls and floors of the cells, shabby from years of disuse. In later years, new arrivals were detained in the "isolation cell" of the cell block; here they spent their first ten days in Hay, mostly confined to this cell, scrubbing its walls and floors with a scrubbing brush and alternately a brick. Girls who misbehaved were confined to the isolation block in the gaol courtyard for 24 hour periods, fed on nothing but bread and either water or milk. Subordinate staff members came from the local community and were for the most part untrained. Senior male staff were transferred to Hay from similar institutions such as Tamworth and Gosford boys' institutions. In their cells at night the girls were required to sleep on their side, facing the door so that when they were checked by guards, every twenty minutes to half an hour, their faces could be seen. One of the cells in the cell block is fitted out as it was when the gaol was a girls' institution. The objects furnishing the cell include; bed, bedding, toilet can and standard issue red cardigan.