ISSUE NO. 17
December 2025
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Letters

I Am Not My Crime

By
Brendan

Brendan writes from a prison in NSW.

Willy Pleasance

To About Time,

I am serving a 33-month sentence. I have been imprisoned first at Silverwater/MRRC before being transferred to another prison and am to be paroled in December this year.

My experience of being imprisoned has been like my world is crumbling down all around me. One day, I was a successful working professional. The next, I was refused bail following an incident.

Something that has kept me grounded throughout this traumatic, stressful and often lonely experience, to me, has been to remember who I am.

I am not my crime.

That was a bad moment. It happened. But it is but one grain of sand on a whole beach of life experiences.

As I sit in my cell tonight, I know my identity is more than this 4x2 room.

As a Christian, I have faith, hope and love in something much greater than myself and this place.

I encourage everyone who is incarcerated not to identify with your crime. Rather, identify with something higher, wider and greater than that.

I want to implore you to seek your purpose and to aim for that better future.

Thank you.

To About Time,

I am serving a 33-month sentence. I have been imprisoned first at Silverwater/MRRC before being transferred to another prison and am to be paroled in December this year.

My experience of being imprisoned has been like my world is crumbling down all around me. One day, I was a successful working professional. The next, I was refused bail following an incident.

Something that has kept me grounded throughout this traumatic, stressful and often lonely experience, to me, has been to remember who I am.

I am not my crime.

That was a bad moment. It happened. But it is but one grain of sand on a whole beach of life experiences.

As I sit in my cell tonight, I know my identity is more than this 4x2 room.

As a Christian, I have faith, hope and love in something much greater than myself and this place.

I encourage everyone who is incarcerated not to identify with your crime. Rather, identify with something higher, wider and greater than that.

I want to implore you to seek your purpose and to aim for that better future.

Thank you.

Lessons from Bees

By Muhamed

Prison teaches people to hold back. To keep to themselves. To give as little as possible. To protect what little energy or hope they have left. When everything feels limited – time, freedom, trust – it makes sense to think that giving more will leave you with less. But the bee lives by a different rule.

Letters

ISSUE NO. 22

2 MIN READ

Albany Prisoners on Lockdowns

By Prisoners at Albany Prison, WA

We are not sure who to write to or who we can talk to about theses matters. We are hoping someone reads our letter and can point us in the right direction to have our voices heard.

Letters

ISSUE NO. 22

1 MIN READ

Rights for Foreign Prisoners

By Luiing

If foreign prisoners have been sentenced under same law as Australians, then it’s extremely important that they have right to be treat equally in their imprisonment – on humanitarian grounds.

Letters

ISSUE NO. 22

2 MIN READ

Not Cool: Heat and Overcrowding in TMCC

By Dane

The following is in response to the article by Denham Sadler titled “Sweltering Behind Bars: Stifling Heat in Australian prisons”.

Letters

ISSUE NO. 22

2 MIN READ

Welcome to About Time

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

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