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Letters

Time Stands Still for No Man

By

Andrew

Andrew writes from a prison in TAS.

Willy Pleasance

Hey guys, I love getting the chance to read about other prisoners all around the country each month and thought I would share my story.

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I’m 40 years old and I’m serving a 9-year sentence. I got out back in 2021 for 6 months and I got out with the wrong intentions. I was a complete goose and I let the ice take over my life. I committed some violent crimes, and for that short time out I’m now doing a big one.

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I’m a father of four. I have two beautiful granddaughters, who I have only been able to meet once in person. I have Zoom visits each week, but it’s just not the same as giving them a big cuddle.

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My eldest daughter got married last week, and, as a father to girls, it’s my duty to be able to walk them down the aisle when that special day in their life comes, so I had to do the right thing and give her my blessing. I didn’t let her know that I was going to write a speech. I had her little sister read it out for me, and I could have gone on and on about why she could have waited for me to get out and made it all about me, but as a father you have to be exactly that. So I wrote the speech.

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I started off with this: “Sorry sweetheart that I’m not able to be there to support you on this special day. But time stands still for no man, not even myself, so forgive me for this but time must go on. No matter who you are.” Now that sunk in the very moment I wrote that.

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Life goes on without us fellas who are stuck in this dark hole. But there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. At least I’ve got a release date. I will make up for my time lost.

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This place has taken over 15 years of my life, and seeing all I’m missing out on has changed me this time around. Time to step up and stay out for the ones who actually do love us.

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Cheers for reading guys. Just thought I’d share my side of life.

This
letter
was originally printed in the
December 2025
edition of About Time.
By Kate

Each day I wake up in here I’m re-shocked, so to speak…how on Earth has life gotten to this point for me? For a while there I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and tell me I’d been “Punk’d”.

ISSUE NO. 27
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2 MIN READ
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There is a particular part of our prison populations that seems to have been forgotten, that gets no mention and yet these people who are the ones that need help and support when incarcerated with a unique set of issues that just aren’t recognised.

ISSUE NO. 27
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3 MIN READ
By Marley

So the parole referred me to seek out a security classification to be possibly considered for low security.

ISSUE NO. 27
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2 MIN READ
By Stephen

What’s been happening at your prison at the moment? Our frequency of ‘lock-ins’ is increasing to about 2 per week while staff do training for the handover.

ISSUE NO. 27
•
2 MIN READ

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