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The paper will publish its first edition in July 2024, with its aim to be delivered monthly to all incarcerated people across Australia free of charge.
About Time will also be freely available online, and available in print to people outside prison through a subscription.
People incarcerated in Australia have little or no access to the internet, few news sources, and limited opportunities for self-expression.
About Time seeks to provide these people with a voice. It is a platform for news and education, expression and hope.
About Time will be written primarily by current and formerly incarcerated people.
The paper will be independent from Corrections authorities and is published by the recently established non-profit About Time Media Ltd. The charity possesses deductible gift-recipient status, and so the paper will be primarily funded by donations. We also aim to have advertising opportunities for other charities and legal services.
About Time Media Ltd is represented by people who work and have worked in criminal justice and prison systems across Australia, including at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, the Fitzroy Legal Service, Justice Action in NSW, RMIT University’s Inside-Out program, and the Prisoners’ Legal Service in Queensland. The organisation is supported by over 35 criminal justice organisations, community legal centres and human rights organisations across Australia, as well as multiple philanthropic trusts.
Help us get About Time off the ground. All donations are tax deductible and will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
Each edition will have at least two news articles, which are topical stories ideally specifically relevant to people in prison/the criminal justice space.
Each edition will have several pages dedicated to publishing incarcerated people’s letters. The letters will range from the everyday, such as ‘what I eat in prison’, to the profound (stories from a person’s past, advice to others for how to endure prison etc).
Each edition will have at least one page with jokes, cartoons, crosswords, sudoku, the nine-letter word, prison recipes, and/or other games.
Each edition will dedicate at least one page to artwork by current and formerly incarcerated people. This may include poetry, drawings, paintings, song lyrics, short stories of fiction, creative non-fiction.
Each edition will contain between 1-2 pages of legal information and education.
The possibilities for this section are endless: ‘debunking prison myths’, ‘preparing for parole’, ‘preparing for parole applications’ ‘what to do if you receive a Mandatory visa cancellation’, ‘your rights in prison’, ‘your rights to access information about your case’, ‘your rights to free legal advice/representation’, etc.
Some editions may include articles about how to prepare for life outside prison, including ‘how to set up a bank account’, ‘simple recipes’, ‘financial literacy’, ‘how to set up a phone’, ‘what to expect when first released’ etc.
We will connect with legal and social organisations for reliable information.
Each edition will also have at least one page dedicated to publishing letters from those outside prison. Most commonly these will be letters from formerly incarcerated people, family and friends.
They might be advice to those inside, they might be about their own experiences of (their or their family’s/friend’s) incarceration, or anything else.
Each edition will contain information that is relevant specifically to each of the eight individual jurisdictions.
Please send any submissions to:
Or email:
We want to work with community and people who have been imprisoned or criminalised so that we make something that is useful and valuable for incarcerated people. If you have ideas for how to improve the paper, including any different sections of the paper or anyone we should reach out to, please email us at:
Australia has never had a regular national prison newspaper. We believe it’s about time that changed.
Don't follow in my footsteps
It's been no Sunday stroll
No the road to redemption
Isn't paved in gold
I am definitely noticing a revolving door in my life with one side being prison. It is a wedge in my life that only I have driven. If I have created it then I can dismantle it. I know I have to get real and start critically thinking as to how I am going to stop.
No matter what our pasts may say
What hurts, our pains endured,
And tears shed for those who
Walked away.
About Time Media acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands across Australia and particularly acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, traditional owners of the land on which About Time Media is based.
We acknowledge the continuing impacts of the criminal legal system on First Nations people, including disproportionate rates of incarceration and deaths in custody, which remain a national shame.
We pay deep respect to Elders past and present, and all families of those who have lost loved ones in prison.