NSW prisoners plot escape using bedsheets

A daring plan to escape a NSW jail using a rope made of knotted bedsheets and an electrical cord has been foiled.

Prison staff noticed a car flashing its lights in the visitors' carpark of Nowra's South Coast Correctional Centre at about 4am on Monday and two women inside allegedly admitted they were there to collect two escaping inmates.

A 20-metre rope made of sheets and a 10-metre electrical cord were found in a garbage bin in a common area inside the minimum security section of the jail, Justice NSW said in a statement on Wednesday.

The two inmates suspected of being involved have been segregated in the maximum-security section of the prison, while an investigation into how the pair intended to break out and reach the fence is carried out.

Corrections Minister David Elliott praised the prison staff.

"I commend staff for their vigilance and quick action at a time of the night when most of us are sound asleep in our beds," he said.