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. 19

February 2026

Donate Here

Poetry

Less

By

John

John writes from a prison in VIC.

Jonny Gios via Unsplash

The outside on the inside

Steals passion for fun

When arrows come from far and wide

Facing the new shiny sun

with dignity

There are ribbons in the fire

And lives still painfully on hold

Beneath the folds of desire

The barred windows still remain cold

indefinitely

When recognition cannot be found

Or trust and pride have no sound

Then those minds roll ‘round and round

They cannot find any common ground

respectively

So the outcasts may play together

Live trapped among the barbed wire

Unmasked souls on a sorry tether

Can never form a knowing gyre

insensitivity

For when lives are flung aside

And battle is all they know

Then worth will always hide

Awake for some endless show

expressivity

The outsider on the inside

Wears the mask of the alone

In crowds of waste and glory

They often forget about Home

eternally

The outside on the inside

Steals passion for fun

When arrows come from far and wide

Facing the new shiny sun

with dignity

There are ribbons in the fire

And lives still painfully on hold

Beneath the folds of desire

The barred windows still remain cold

indefinitely

When recognition cannot be found

Or trust and pride have no sound

Then those minds roll ‘round and round

They cannot find any common ground

respectively

So the outcasts may play together

Live trapped among the barbed wire

Unmasked souls on a sorry tether

Can never form a knowing gyre

insensitivity

For when lives are flung aside

And battle is all they know

Then worth will always hide

Awake for some endless show

expressivity

The outsider on the inside

Wears the mask of the alone

In crowds of waste and glory

They often forget about Home

eternally

Falling Like Angels

By Daniel

The pain that I feel, this place that I’m in, these four walls closing in…

Creative

ISSUE NO. 23

2 MIN READ

As This Time Comes to an End

By Punkin

As this time comes to an end, I wonder which way the next will bend. The earth and moon will do their thing, I’ll embrace everything.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 23

2 MIN READ

‘God, I Am Deeply Sorry’: A Poem for the Prisoners We’ve Lost

By Triste

To all the prisoners who have ever spent time away from the ones they love.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 23

1 MIN READ

‘Tingers’ and the Squirrel Box

By Sara

In Creative Learning we get to see some amazing stuff made by talented people. The best part is hearing the stories behind how creative projects have come to life.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 23

2 MIN READ

Help Us Keep Publishing About Time

Without About Time, I don’t know where I would be – Mark, from a prison in Victoria

We need your help so that we can print and distribute the paper to every person in every prison for at least the next year. We value whatever you can spare, no matter how big or small.

Australia’s prison population is growing, and our many prisons are spread far and wide.

We need your help so that we can print and distribute the paper to every person in every prison for at least the next year. We need your help to cover postage for anyone who sends us a letter from the inside.

We value whatever you can spare, no matter how big or small.