A transgender prisoner has been found dead in a cell at Cooma Correctional Centre in Australia, days before a parole hearing that could have considered their release into the community.
Benjamin Charles Jones, 47, had been sentenced to three years and four months in prison after following a female tourist through Sydney’s central business district and attempting to rape her in October 2024.
Jones was required to serve at least two years of the sentence. After a reduction for an early guilty plea and credit for time already spent in custody, parole eligibility was set for November 21, with a hearing scheduled for November 12.
But Jones was found dead at the prison on October 30. The NSW State Parole Authority was notified a week later.
A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said no other person was involved in the death.
“On Friday 30 October 2026, a 49-year-old died at Cooma Correctional Centre,” she said.
“Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) and NSW Police are investigating. Any death in custody is immediately reported to the NSW Coroner and subject to a compulsory public inquiry.”
The Sydney attack and parole hearing
Jones, who identified as transgender and used she/they pronouns, pleaded guilty to sexual assault without consent and stalking over the attack on the 31-year-old tourist.
The court heard that Jones followed the woman after she left a nightclub, pursued her through Hyde Park and dragged her into a secluded area near St Mary’s Cathedral.
Jones allegedly pushed a plastic object into the woman’s mouth to muffle her screams and tried to remove both their clothing. The woman escaped during the struggle and sought help from passers-by.
Jones was later arrested after DNA was found beneath the woman’s fingernails and on her clothing.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said the assault had shattered her sense of safety. She told the court she had chosen not to tell close family members because she did not want to place a burden on them.
The court was told Jones had been released into the community only weeks before the attack, despite police describing them as a “significant risk” to the public.
Jones had delayed telling police about moving from Victoria to New South Wales and had provided false information about their living arrangements. Court documents said: “Since arrival in NSW, the accused has been difficult to locate and reported not to have a mobile phone.”
Jones received a 12-month community corrections order for breaching reporting conditions.
Previous convictions and threats in custody
Jones had previously been jailed for the attempted rape of a woman walking home from dinner in Melbourne in 2021. They had also served seven years in Germany for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl and were placed on a child sex offenders register after being deported to Australia in 2018.
During the recent sentencing, NSW District Court Judge Troy Anderson took into account Jones’s mental health difficulties, drug abuse and reported threats from other inmates.
Jones had spent almost two years in protective isolation following threats from fellow prisoners. Judge Anderson said that circumstance meant any period of custody would “weigh more heavily” on them.
“It is certainly a difficult sentencing exercise given the appalling nature of the conduct itself. But the subjective case of the offender is powerful,” the judge said when setting parole eligibility for November 21.
