I am a prisoner at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and have been since February 2022. I have no family in Melbourne that can visit me in person. Nor do they drop off property or top up my account with money. I solely rely on my wages from working a full-time job inside the prison.

As a young person, I admired my grandfather so much that I feared him. He is the kind of man that commands respect; a military man who doesn’t put up with any funny business.

Last Sunday night I watched a movie called Patch Adams. It’s a comedy about a man called Patch Adams, played by Robin Williams, and his journey through medical school and becoming a doctor. He decides to become a doctor after his own experience in a mental hospital.

While he has been imprisoned on three separate occasions, 8-ball has given Paolo the focus and sense of community to move forward on the right path.  

Remand. Difficult times. Difficult times!!! Being on remand, in my opinion, is one of the most trying and testing parts of being in jail.

When I was arrested, I had a job, a family, friends. When they sent me to jail, I lost it all. Because that’s the true punishment. You lose your life. You break the law, so you are destroyed.

One of the things I noticed as I entered my grimy first cell in jail was that there were no glass mirrors on the walls. I quickly found out that glass mirrors are banned in jail; no doubt because glass can be easily smashed, shattered and used as a weapon.

Recently, I left my job as a police officer. When people asked why I left the police force, I said it was because my values misaligned with the job. And yet my certificate of service hangs in a frame on my wall. The irony is not lost on me.

As the months went by, I started to think about what could be done in that time. I started to see time in a different light.