Australia's National
Prison Newspaper

Australia's National
Prison Newspaper

Australia's National
Prison Newspaper

ISSUE NO. 18
JANUARY 2026

News and Investigations

Each edition contains news articles and investigative pieces. These are topical stories that are usually about prisons and criminal justice.

We also summarise the latest criminal justice news around the country.

Latest
Police Installed Prison Listening Devices Without Proper Warrants
By Denham Sadler

“It is our assessment that Victoria Police did not comply with the Surveillance Devices Act when installing and maintaining integrated listening devices,” the report said.

ISSUE NO. 18
3 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance
United Nations Visit Australian Prisons
By Stacey Stokes

In early December, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Australia. Their purpose was to provide guidance on how international human rights standards apply to prisons and places of detention.

ISSUE NO. 18
2 MIN READ
Mathias Reding via Unsplash
Around the Country – December 2025
By About Time

Including a Victorian man suing for his right to have Vegemite in prison, a new framework for rehabilitation being launched by NT Corrections, a QLD Watchdog calling separation rooms in youth prisons ‘inhumane’ and more.

ISSUE NO. 18
8 MIN READ
Ethan Cassidy
Cleveland’s Death Was Preventable, Predictable and Predicted: Coroner
By Denham Sadler

The death of a 16-year-old First Nations teenager in a notorious youth unit of an adult prison in Western Australia was preventable and predictable, and the result of “serious longstanding deficiencies in the system, a Coroner has found.

ISSUE NO. 18
2 MIN READ
Impacts of Proposed New Freedom of Information Laws
By Daniel Vansetten

Obtaining information from federal agencies is about to become subject to stricter rules under the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 (Cth).

ISSUE NO. 18
2 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance
Palliative Care in Prison and the Push for Change
By Sophie Lawson

End-of-life care, also known as palliative care, is a healthcare process that aims to improve the quality of life and reduce the suffering of those who are terminally ill. Being incarcerated can make this stage of life even more complicated.

ISSUE NO. 18
3 MIN READ
Dominik Lange via Unsplash
BREAKING
‘Overcrowded, Degraded and Infested with Cockroaches’: Inspection Finds Broome Prison Still Not Fit-For-Purpose
By Denham Sadler

A remote WA prison holding mostly First Nations people is “unfit for purpose”, with people sleeping on the floors and cockroach infestations.

3 MIN READ
Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services
BREAKING
Court Finds Victorian Prisons Are Not Providing Adequate ‘Open Air’
By Denham Sadler

A number of Victorian prisons may have to be renovated or rebuilt after the Supreme Court found that no “open air” was being provided to inmates in multiple units.

BREAKING
3 MIN READ
Willy Pleasance
BREAKING
QLD Moves to Restrict Voting Rights of People in Prison
By Denham Sadler

The Liberal Queensland government has announced plans to significantly minimise the rights to vote for people in prison.

BREAKING
2 MIN READ
Ike Curtis
Archive
ISSUE NO. 13
August 2025

Ask for Naloxone Before Release – It Could Save Your Life

By Denham Sadler

Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose on opioids.

4 MIN READ
BREAKING

About Time at the Reintegration Puzzle Conference 2025

By About Time

In June, people from across the country gathered in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) for the 18th Reintegration Puzzle Conference — an annual event for those working in justice reform and those with lived experience of prison and reintegration. 

4 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 12
July 2025

Ice Cube Drops Wisdom on Jailbreak Radio

By Kate Pinnock

The godfather of hip hop, rapper, and filmmaker Ice Cube from Los Angeles spoke exclusively to prison radio show ‘Jailbreak’  about his own experiences in the American prison system.

4 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 12
July 2025

An Unexpected Exclusive with Australian Fugitive, Markis Turner

By Damien Linnane

Markis is the alleged ‘mastermind’ behind a scheme to import more than 71 kilos of cocaine to Australia. He fled the country while on bail, and was caught after two years on the run in the Philippines. That was 2017. He’s been detained here ever since.

5 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 12
July 2025

Around the Country – June 2025

By About Time

Including an inspection of court custody centres in WA, Victoria enforcing the nation's strictest machete ban, Tasmanians returning to the polls and more.

2-3 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 12
July 2025

Money, Money, Money

By Stacey Stokes

A report by Financial Counselling Australia said this is a form of “double punishment”, with people leaving prison in a worse financial position than when they entered it because the system is “stacked against them”.

3 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 12
July 2025

Locked Down But Not Forgotten

By Denham Sadler

The regular use of lockdowns across the Australian prison system has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, with governments under pressure to address the growing issue that is having a devastating impact on those inside.

4 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 11
June 2025

Knitting in Prison: Great Balls of Fibre!

By Sam

No-one’s life pans out quite the way they might expect, but it should never be too late to try and get back on course.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 11
June 2025

Rethinking Justice: Inside Victoria’s Therapeutic Court System

By Stacey Stokes

While hardline responses to crime are constantly pushed by politicians and the media, other approaches – such as “therapeutic justice” models – are often overlooked.

4 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 11
June 2025

Around the Country – May 2025

By About Time

Including WA Government pledges to improve crisis care in prisons, Victoria announcing a $700m investment in prisons and officers, an ACT prison inspector flagging understaffing issues and more.

2-3 MIN READ
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About Time is the national newspaper for Australian prisons and detention facilities

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