Welcome to About Time

About Time is the national newspaper for Australian prisons and detention facilities

Your browser window currently does not have enough height, or is zoomed in too far to view our website content correctly. Once the window reaches the minimum required height or zoom percentage, the content will display automatically.

Alternatively, you can learn more via the links below.

Donations via GiveNow

Email

Instagram

LinkedIn

ISSUE NO. 14
SEptember 2025
ISSUE NO. 14
+
Sections
SEptember 2025
Special Moments in prison
Samantha on finding love while incarcerated
Letters
NSW Virtual bail courts
What you need to know about the changes
Legal Corner
The road back
Understanding reintegration and re-entry
Reintegration
Puzzles, games and more
Even a delicious recipe for an oreo cake
Play

Special Moments Do Happen in Prison

By Samantha

Special moments do happen in prison. It was the moment of my life, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
Samantha and Thor

Stay Strong and Be Kind to Yourselves

By Kaiya

One thing I dislike is when somebody thinks you can’t do it. There they go underestimating our ability to run it up. Like, righto!

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
By Anthony

Mistakes are made. Sometimes we don’t always know why or how these mistakes are made. Mistakes can’t be taken back. However, we can learn from them.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
By Belly

I have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and, as a result, I am allocated one extra piece of fruit every day.

ISSUE NO. 14
1 MIN READ
By Aidan

Where would we really be without our Brothers.

ISSUE NO. 14
1 MIN READ
By Jon

I have been incarcerated now for 25 years and I am suffering from a diabetes related sore feet nerve condition.

ISSUE NO. 14
1 MIN READ
By Jessica

She was an advocate for us girls, always fighting for a better world, but she was also my best friend, and I’ll miss her every single day.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
By Bukks

Why does time move so slow? Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years, year after year. I wonder if other people have ever felt invisible?

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
Anonymous

I’m fortunate I didn’t end up killing anyone that night. I usually always have a passenger with me, but that night I didn’t have anyone in my car.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ

Rethinking Risk Assessments in Prison Settings

Stacey Stokes interviews Emma Russell

When an individual is assigned a risk classification of low, medium, or high risk by corrections, they have been given this classification through a risk assessment.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
About Time

‘Navigating a Minefield’: The Mental Health Crisis in Australia’s Prisons

By Denham Sadler and Rosie Heselev

It’s estimated that about a third of all people in prison in Australia have a mental health diagnosis. Despite the huge need for support and care, a lack of staffing across the country has meant that many people in prison have been unable to get help.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
Ethan Cassidy

Around the Country – August 2025

By About Time

Including WA Federal Government raising concerns with criminal justice reforms, SA prison placement guidelines reviewed, child incarceration rates increasing in NSW and more.

ISSUE NO. 14
6 MIN READ
Ethan Cassidy

The Dark Side of Gains

By Ronin Cruise

Australian men are bulking up at alarming rates. But there’s a toxic truth beneath it all: steroid use.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
Victor Freitas via Unsplash

My Story: Facing Deportation

By Leslie

My name is Leslie. I am a 66-year-old New Zealander and I have been incarcerated since August 2023 on a charge of dangerous driving causing GBH.

ISSUE NO. 14
4 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance

Seeing My Mother

By Maria Dudko

I was 12 when Mum went to prison. Instead of crying, I threw myself into planning everything we’d do once she came back.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance

Acquired Brain Injuries and Prison

By Michael

My name is Michael, and I am a person who has an ABI (acquired brain injury) and I have done a lot of time in prison.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ

Demystifying Hepatitis C

By John

Hep C and I have a long history: In 1999, I was quite young and on remand and they must have given me a hep C test. I didn’t even know what they were testing for at the time.

ISSUE NO. 14
5 MIN READ
Developed by Hepatitis NSW

Learning From Guilt (the Emotion, Not the Plea!)

By Annalise de Groot

Guilt is intended to be a motivational emotion, allowing us to change behaviour that might cause us to be excluded or persecuted by others in our social groups.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance

New Virtual Bail Courts in NSW

An explainer from the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited

The way the NSW court system deals with bail hearings on weekdays has changed.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
Ethan Cassidy

Legal Q&A

Anonymous

If you are charged with breaking a rule in prison, this can result in disciplinary action, in addition to potential criminal charges.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
Ethan Cassidy

DNA Testing in Queensland Under Review

By Prisoners Legal Service

In Queensland, there have been concerns raised about the way DNA evidence is processed and examined in forensic laboratories.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance

The Road Back

By Dr Carollyne Youssef

Release can feel like a distant flicker – filled with both hope and uncertainty. But, when the gates open, freedom isn’t just liberating; it can be overwhelming.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Sports of All Sorts

By Goal Mouth

Today About Time launches a regular sports column. Please let us know what you’d like to see covered.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ
Hansan Lu via Unsplash

Mob

Jilbi Coming Together

Encouraging us old men to support each other

By Geoff, Scott, Dave and Ned

This is an exciting initiative, and, as older Aboriginal men, we are genuinely committed to this. We understand suffering and great loss.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
“Spiritual Healing Spiritual Calling” by Isaac, available to purchase from Boom Gate Gallery

Artwork From The Torch – Issue No. 14

Two new artworks from First Nations artists

By The Torch

Including a piece about reconnecting to family and another about the lands of the Namoi River People.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
“Reconnect” by Putecharung, Kamu people, acrylic on canvas, 2024

Precious

By Kaiya

Do not cry by the window, gazing out to the sky. For I’ve not only left you, I’ll never say goodbye.

ISSUE NO. 14
1 MIN READ

Window Pane

By Kelly

Window Pane is a reflection of childhood memories, looking outside of my bedroom, locked away.

ISSUE NO. 14
1 MIN READ
By Diesel, from a prison in NSW
By Aidan

Life’s not a party my dearest darling, for we partied, now must you party alone.

ISSUE NO. 14
1 MIN READ
Anonymous

‘Tis just another day behind the wall, with musters here and musters there, it surely wearies, one and all.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
By Belly

Givin’ my mum a hug, even for just a second. That’s worth a lot, worth the world I reckon.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
By Bukks

Nowhere to go, as the new day is here? Holding on as the last threads, of my dreams disappear.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
By Travis

I fall, twisting and spinning in duress, a darkness complete, vast and eternal. An emptiness felt, thick as molasses, noises and sounds rend my mind infernal.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
By Lanie

It’s been almost 10 years now, since my life has changed. For better or worse, nothing will ever be the same.

ISSUE NO. 14
2 MIN READ
By Natasha and Mikayla

Behold my friend, I am heroin, known by all as the destroyer of men. From where I came no one knows, a far away place where the poppies grow.

ISSUE NO. 14
3 MIN READ

Play

Confessions of a Prison Tour Guide Vol. 2

Volume 2 of our new cartoon series, Confessions of a Prison Tour Guide.

Benedicte O’Leary-Rutherford

Crossword

Can you find all the words from the clues?

Bad Jokes

If you have a better joke please send them to us because these ones are terrible!

Caption This…

Submit a caption to this photo, and we will print the three finalists (including the winner) in the next edition.

Sudoku

Fill in the box with numbers from 1-9 with no repeated numbers in each line, horizontally or vertically.

Quiz

Test your general knowledge on our monthly quiz!

Oreo Cake in the Secure Unit

Best served with a cup of cold milk!

Brad Switzer via Unsplash
Donate to About Time