To About Time,
My name is Kerrin, currently in Marngoneet Correctional Centre.
Nothing but positive feedback for your paper. I can only see it getting better with time. I only have a short stint of a few months, but like most find myself forced to become distant from my family, mainly due to unaffordable call rates. I work in metal fabrication, paid $33 per week (available spend). I smoked vapes outside, due to a nicotine dependency and I need my $17 box of lozenges weekly, so my usual canteen spend looks like this: $17 for lozenges, $2 for long-life milk, $4 for coffee, $2 for soap, $3 for the Geelong Advertiser (as it has tv guide for the week) and maybe a pack of biscuits (if on a sale) for under $2. This usually leaves me around a couple dollars.
For my phone, I'm lucky my partner pays for an engine number and mum has a home phone or I just wouldn't be able to speak to anyone. Thank god my son (three years old) is able to visit me with my mother fortnightly or I’d go mad. As his mother has a CRN from years ago, I'm unable to get zoom calls with him.
All my other family, being my dad, sisters, brothers and my 19-year-old twin boys have mobile numbers as their only way of contact, so I haven't spoken with them unfortunately. There are so many issues with the system, but these sorts of issues are definitely the main ones. I've found every prisoner has similar problems around the phone system.
Thank you for your piece on depression (in the October issue). It definitely did lift my spirits, after getting a better understanding of the condition and to know that there are so many prisoners in similar circumstances to myself. There is always a brighter day ahead.
Regards,
Kerrin
P.S. I also made sure I got the postage stamp and envelope so I could say thank-you for your paper. I really think it gives us all hope for change and a feeling that we do have a voice. We can only hope we are heard.
To About Time,
My name is Kerrin, currently in Marngoneet Correctional Centre.
Nothing but positive feedback for your paper. I can only see it getting better with time. I only have a short stint of a few months, but like most find myself forced to become distant from my family, mainly due to unaffordable call rates. I work in metal fabrication, paid $33 per week (available spend). I smoked vapes outside, due to a nicotine dependency and I need my $17 box of lozenges weekly, so my usual canteen spend looks like this: $17 for lozenges, $2 for long-life milk, $4 for coffee, $2 for soap, $3 for the Geelong Advertiser (as it has tv guide for the week) and maybe a pack of biscuits (if on a sale) for under $2. This usually leaves me around a couple dollars.
For my phone, I'm lucky my partner pays for an engine number and mum has a home phone or I just wouldn't be able to speak to anyone. Thank god my son (three years old) is able to visit me with my mother fortnightly or I’d go mad. As his mother has a CRN from years ago, I'm unable to get zoom calls with him.
All my other family, being my dad, sisters, brothers and my 19-year-old twin boys have mobile numbers as their only way of contact, so I haven't spoken with them unfortunately. There are so many issues with the system, but these sorts of issues are definitely the main ones. I've found every prisoner has similar problems around the phone system.
Thank you for your piece on depression (in the October issue). It definitely did lift my spirits, after getting a better understanding of the condition and to know that there are so many prisoners in similar circumstances to myself. There is always a brighter day ahead.
Regards,
Kerrin
P.S. I also made sure I got the postage stamp and envelope so I could say thank-you for your paper. I really think it gives us all hope for change and a feeling that we do have a voice. We can only hope we are heard.
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On 1 November 2025, QCS introduced a new pricing model: 20 cents per minute for all calls, mobile or local. A call that once cost 30 cents for 15 minutes now costs $3 – a ten-times increase.
I have been incarcerated for 22 months of a four-year sentence in Queensland jails. This poem is about my own situation.
Reading other prisoner’s stories inspired me to keep my head up and keep going now four months in, thank you all who share your stories and words of wisdom.
I moved units about a month ago and we feed some stray cats here. One even let me pat her last night! It's been over a year since I've patted an animal, so you can imagine how excited I was!
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