I was always drawing as a kid, and when the opportunity came up to do an art course at age 17 I went for it. Twenty-three years later with multiple certificates and a degree in Maori Visual Arts, I decided to do one more course: Level 3 Cooking and Hospitality.
And ever since then I have never come back to art. Another 20 years passed cooking as a pro chef in New Zealand and Australia, till I was arrested a year ago. Coming into prison not knowing what my future was going to be, all I could do was train every day, until I saw another inmate drawing. Then I remembered I know how to draw.
So I started sending drawings home to my partner – she has over 300 drawings to date.
Eventually I started turning the drawings into cards with a bar code on the back with my min number.
Eventually other inmates wanted cards as well, which I was always happy to do. During this time, the chef at work asked if I wanted to paint on the wall and do a mural. Then I was asked to do all four PODs and then the clinic.
The paintings are of Australian animals and landscapes – as well as an ANZAC memorial in every POD. I think this is an awesome representation of all nations, which I am not only privileged to do but grateful for, with the opportunities it has given me and other inmates.
I have just given drawings to the chapel and will continue if I am sentenced to more time or I am to be deported back to New Zealand. No matter which way this goes, I will continue to draw and paint murals in or out of prison.
Until then, I will draw my way out of prison.
I was always drawing as a kid, and when the opportunity came up to do an art course at age 17 I went for it. Twenty-three years later with multiple certificates and a degree in Maori Visual Arts, I decided to do one more course: Level 3 Cooking and Hospitality.
And ever since then I have never come back to art. Another 20 years passed cooking as a pro chef in New Zealand and Australia, till I was arrested a year ago. Coming into prison not knowing what my future was going to be, all I could do was train every day, until I saw another inmate drawing. Then I remembered I know how to draw.
So I started sending drawings home to my partner – she has over 300 drawings to date.
Eventually I started turning the drawings into cards with a bar code on the back with my min number.
Eventually other inmates wanted cards as well, which I was always happy to do. During this time, the chef at work asked if I wanted to paint on the wall and do a mural. Then I was asked to do all four PODs and then the clinic.
The paintings are of Australian animals and landscapes – as well as an ANZAC memorial in every POD. I think this is an awesome representation of all nations, which I am not only privileged to do but grateful for, with the opportunities it has given me and other inmates.
I have just given drawings to the chapel and will continue if I am sentenced to more time or I am to be deported back to New Zealand. No matter which way this goes, I will continue to draw and paint murals in or out of prison.
Until then, I will draw my way out of prison.
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On 1 November 2025, QCS introduced a new pricing model: 20 cents per minute for all calls, mobile or local. A call that once cost 30 cents for 15 minutes now costs $3 – a ten-times increase.
I have been incarcerated for 22 months of a four-year sentence in Queensland jails. This poem is about my own situation.
Reading other prisoner’s stories inspired me to keep my head up and keep going now four months in, thank you all who share your stories and words of wisdom.
I moved units about a month ago and we feed some stray cats here. One even let me pat her last night! It's been over a year since I've patted an animal, so you can imagine how excited I was!
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