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

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ISSUE NO. 15

October 2025

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Poetry

Human Being

By

Matthew

Matthew writes from a prison in NSW.

Willy Pleasance

As I come back to jail

I walk through that familiar door

I promised by mum and kids

I wouldn’t break the law

Now here I am sitting

In a cell like before

4 x 4 cement walls

Bunk beds and all

It’s my birthday

I’m 35 today

Once released

I will not lead astray

I have done just over

12 years since turning eighteen

I’m sober and off the drugs

I will leave jail clean

This is my story

This is what I mean

We all make mistakes

After all I’m a human being

As I come back to jail

I walk through that familiar door

I promised by mum and kids

I wouldn’t break the law

Now here I am sitting

In a cell like before

4 x 4 cement walls

Bunk beds and all

It’s my birthday

I’m 35 today

Once released

I will not lead astray

I have done just over

12 years since turning eighteen

I’m sober and off the drugs

I will leave jail clean

This is my story

This is what I mean

We all make mistakes

After all I’m a human being

‘Love is Rebuilding My Life’

By Phillip

There’s irony, hypocrisy, fallacy, a vast ocean of distance to cross. The “saint”, the “sinner”, it’s lunacy, that the ignorant could save the lost.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 22

2 MIN READ

Methfairytale

By Karie

I’m not belle of the ball, not the very least, but we have something in common, I’m in love with a beast. But the beast is not a person but a drug that I call meth, I’ve been talking to myself for hours, I’m running out of breath.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 22

1 MIN READ

Nostalgia

By Dennis

Nostalgia is a gentle haze, a soft and fading, golden maze, where time itself begins to blur, and memory’s touch is sweet and pure.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 22

1 MIN READ

Art From Inside

By Lanie

Our team was blown away by this beautiful painting.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 21

1 MIN READ