ISSUE NO. 21
April 2026
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Letters

Jail is Home to Me Now

By
Kane

Kane writes from a prison in QLD.

To About Time,

My name’s Kane. I like your paper. I look forward to it when it comes. They deliver it under my door. It’s interesting to read what others have to say and their experiences. I like the paintings some of the other prisoners do. They have a gift. It’s sad how some people waste a talent like that by doing silly shit and wasting their life behind bars. Though I know what it’s like to feel you don’t always have a choice and you gotta do what you gotta do. Some blame others and try to give reasons why they’re stuck here. Like, no mate, you’re here because you alone put you here. So it’s my 8th time in. I don’t receive mail. No one comes to visit me. I have nobody. I used to think I had friends. I’ve learnt not to get close to people. I have people I hang out with.

You can meet 100 people in here. Out of the 100 you’d be lucky if one of them are as they say on the outside. There’s a lot of good people too in here – good-hearted people.

In prison, I have a TV, a bed, shower, 3 meals a day and buy-up every week. The jail taxes me half my pay, so now I get $8.50 a week – got 20 more pays to go.

It spun me out my first time in jail. You get paid to be in jail. And we get lollies, chocolate, coffee etc. I’m homeless on the outside. To me, now, it’s home. I’ve had more good times in jail than I had on the outside. When they gave me bail over 6 months ago I cried. I didn’t want to leave. I’m not in a hurry to get out back to the streets, sleeping in parks again. It’s funny, some people claim they have no one, yet they do. I haven’t got anyone I can trust. Who can you trust when you can’t trust nobody? You trust yourself.

To About Time,

My name’s Kane. I like your paper. I look forward to it when it comes. They deliver it under my door. It’s interesting to read what others have to say and their experiences. I like the paintings some of the other prisoners do. They have a gift. It’s sad how some people waste a talent like that by doing silly shit and wasting their life behind bars. Though I know what it’s like to feel you don’t always have a choice and you gotta do what you gotta do. Some blame others and try to give reasons why they’re stuck here. Like, no mate, you’re here because you alone put you here. So it’s my 8th time in. I don’t receive mail. No one comes to visit me. I have nobody. I used to think I had friends. I’ve learnt not to get close to people. I have people I hang out with.

You can meet 100 people in here. Out of the 100 you’d be lucky if one of them are as they say on the outside. There’s a lot of good people too in here – good-hearted people.

In prison, I have a TV, a bed, shower, 3 meals a day and buy-up every week. The jail taxes me half my pay, so now I get $8.50 a week – got 20 more pays to go.

It spun me out my first time in jail. You get paid to be in jail. And we get lollies, chocolate, coffee etc. I’m homeless on the outside. To me, now, it’s home. I’ve had more good times in jail than I had on the outside. When they gave me bail over 6 months ago I cried. I didn’t want to leave. I’m not in a hurry to get out back to the streets, sleeping in parks again. It’s funny, some people claim they have no one, yet they do. I haven’t got anyone I can trust. Who can you trust when you can’t trust nobody? You trust yourself.

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It’s daunting enough when you get arrested by police, then placed into custody and thrown into a cell. Then you have to go through a degrading strip search.

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If It’s Broken, Then Fix It

By Andrew

I’ve spent most of my adult life behind bars, and I’m not proud to say it. It’s been such a bloody waste.

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Routine is Good, Not Bad

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Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in prison can relate to the concept of prison rituals and routines.

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

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