ISSUE NO. 17
December 2025
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Letters

Let Them Go Home

By
Ed

Ed writes from a prison in QLD.

Willy Pleasance

To About Time,

How’s it going down there in the south?

Well, I’m writing this letter in relation to the housing crisis, which is a problem for many inmates trying to find a place to live. I have witnessed a lot of parole being granted, but then the problem is that accommodation is the one thing holding inmates in prison. In most cases we have a place to go with family and friends, but then corrective services deem it unsuitable for reasons they will not disclose to us.

How can we rectify this if we don’t know how to rectify the problem? It’s a dead-end road.

Most of the time we can go to our family for support, but in some cases they say no because there has been police contact at that address. I can’t understand why we can’t go to a place to live if the people are willing to have you live with them.

On some occasions they let us go to a parole house in public housing which is full of paroled inmates. So my question is: why can we live in a house full of criminals but cannot return to our family?

This is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Thanks for listening. I guess I will have to do my full time because my partner has a criminal record. We have been together for 32 years.

To Corrective Services, why is your family home, which is full of support and security to stay on the right path, not an acceptable place for accommodation?

Stay real,

Ed

To About Time,

How’s it going down there in the south?

Well, I’m writing this letter in relation to the housing crisis, which is a problem for many inmates trying to find a place to live. I have witnessed a lot of parole being granted, but then the problem is that accommodation is the one thing holding inmates in prison. In most cases we have a place to go with family and friends, but then corrective services deem it unsuitable for reasons they will not disclose to us.

How can we rectify this if we don’t know how to rectify the problem? It’s a dead-end road.

Most of the time we can go to our family for support, but in some cases they say no because there has been police contact at that address. I can’t understand why we can’t go to a place to live if the people are willing to have you live with them.

On some occasions they let us go to a parole house in public housing which is full of paroled inmates. So my question is: why can we live in a house full of criminals but cannot return to our family?

This is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Thanks for listening. I guess I will have to do my full time because my partner has a criminal record. We have been together for 32 years.

To Corrective Services, why is your family home, which is full of support and security to stay on the right path, not an acceptable place for accommodation?

Stay real,

Ed

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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