Experiences

Who would have thought prison would be so noisy. No, not the inmates (although they can be a tad rambunctious at times) – I’m talking about all the bloody announcements!

My partner gave me 24 frozen roses the Valentine’s Day he went to prison.

My first day out was surreal. Just walking out the gate, I felt the weight slip from my shoulders. I told Mum with a smile, “I’m a free man, for today.”

My heart stopped the moment I heard his voice, the panic already rising before he even said a word. “They’re deporting me,” he whispered.

So this Mother’s Day, please know we’re still here, and still holding you in mind. Always. You are always in our thoughts and in our hearts.

I wonder whether Richard’s new-found “freedom” will be just another word or, perhaps, a new-found sentence.

The biggest thing that caught me off guard when I got out to the sentenced jails was how comfortable people were just doing four or five years like it was nothing.

The handling of Aboriginal art and the ignorance around cultural significance by prisons in Victoria is appalling. This was my experience. It happened to me more than once, and no one was ever held accountable.

I don’t want to be on Centrelink – I want to work. I will cook, clean, waitress, pick up rubbish – anything. But I cannot because of a Police Check and Working with Children’s Check.

Walking out of prison without keeping up with digital advancements is like emerging from a cave clutching a Nintendo 64 while everyone else is coding in quantum and you’re still trying to pay with Monopoly money in a now cashless society.