My name is Steve. I have done 10 years prison time in Long Bay, Grafton, Parramatta, Goulburn, Maitland, Cessnock, Rockhampton, Arthur Gorrie, Borallan, Glen Innes and Silver Water. I got out in 2003 and have remained out ever since.
The first time I was in trouble, I would've been about seven years old, stealing a box of musk sticks. A bit of childhood petty theft and I went to Mt Penang for 18 months. Got out and lived on the streets of Sydney where I had my first taste of heroin. From there, with no life skills, my insatiable appetite for drugs grew. Anything to take me away from my emotional pain!!
Come 1986, I was given five years for car theft and seven years later I was given a further six and a half years for armed robbery.
Prison was....desensitising. Being 18 years old in Long Bay jail back in 1986 – the trauma continues to follow me to this day. It is a hostile environment where you are always on guard, constantly surveying your surroundings. It wears on you. 10 years is a long time. The biggest frustration was not being able to do an apprenticeship in those ten years. Both sentences were over five years – enough time for two apprenticeships.
I also found it hard to remain clean inside as there was always an abundance of drugs. Coming up to the end of my sentence I decided to do six months of rehab before re-entering society. My motivation to turn my life around came on a visit mid-way through my last sentence. The mother of my daughter said to me,"you think you're the world's best dad – did you think of her while jumping that counter?". From that day, I finally put someone before myself!
I eventually got out of prison, had a job lined up, saw a counsellor, did the Triple P parenting course and within a year of getting out, had full custody of my daughter who was now 11 years old!
What has sustained me since then is a different me – no longer obsessed with myself, I now work in a place where I do outreach BBQs and advocate for the drug using community. I give instead of take, and my daughter is finally proud of me and how far I have come. I have remained free since 2003 and am never looking back!
My name is Steve. I have done 10 years prison time in Long Bay, Grafton, Parramatta, Goulburn, Maitland, Cessnock, Rockhampton, Arthur Gorrie, Borallan, Glen Innes and Silver Water. I got out in 2003 and have remained out ever since.
The first time I was in trouble, I would've been about seven years old, stealing a box of musk sticks. A bit of childhood petty theft and I went to Mt Penang for 18 months. Got out and lived on the streets of Sydney where I had my first taste of heroin. From there, with no life skills, my insatiable appetite for drugs grew. Anything to take me away from my emotional pain!!
Come 1986, I was given five years for car theft and seven years later I was given a further six and a half years for armed robbery.
Prison was....desensitising. Being 18 years old in Long Bay jail back in 1986 – the trauma continues to follow me to this day. It is a hostile environment where you are always on guard, constantly surveying your surroundings. It wears on you. 10 years is a long time. The biggest frustration was not being able to do an apprenticeship in those ten years. Both sentences were over five years – enough time for two apprenticeships.
I also found it hard to remain clean inside as there was always an abundance of drugs. Coming up to the end of my sentence I decided to do six months of rehab before re-entering society. My motivation to turn my life around came on a visit mid-way through my last sentence. The mother of my daughter said to me,"you think you're the world's best dad – did you think of her while jumping that counter?". From that day, I finally put someone before myself!
I eventually got out of prison, had a job lined up, saw a counsellor, did the Triple P parenting course and within a year of getting out, had full custody of my daughter who was now 11 years old!
What has sustained me since then is a different me – no longer obsessed with myself, I now work in a place where I do outreach BBQs and advocate for the drug using community. I give instead of take, and my daughter is finally proud of me and how far I have come. I have remained free since 2003 and am never looking back!
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While being incarcerated, I have learnt how many members of the community are Deaf and have a lot of trouble communicating as very few people know how to use sign language.
When I get out I’m going to be hitting the gym but not sure if I’ll be taking steroids.
I just wanted to give a big shout out to the amazing people at the Salvation Army for everything that they do for us in prison and outside in the community over the Christmas period.
It’s a positive and strange feeling hearing your own story through the words of another and here was me thinking I was alone in my travels as many of us do.
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