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No ‘Suitable’ Housing For Parole

By

Zachary

Zachary writes from Woodford Correctional Centre in Queensland.

Willy Pleasance

Hi guys,

A big shout out to you guys for printing such a great newspaper. Personally I love and look forward to every issue. I am currently serving time at Woodford Correctional Centre, situated 25 minutes west of Caboolture.

It’s a beautiful part of the countryside to do some hard time in. Our prison yard faces a lush green mountain with a lovely meadow farm at its base. It’s funny watching cows coming and going from a secure prison lol.

I’m 46 years old. Before Covid-19 hit, I’d never been to prison a day in my life. But like many other people, I separated from my partner of 15 years during the long Covid lockdowns. Then my mother passed away and I fell apart and ended up homeless. I’ve now spent 4 years in prison for petty drug and property crimes. Completely my fault. But I am trying to make true change and stop this prison cycle. I do not have any family or friends in the Brisbane area, so I’ve decided to return to Far North Queensland, where I have family around the Cairns and Cooktown areas. Unfortunately, the parole board have deemed my father’s address as unsuitable without explanation. This was my only address option, and I am at risk of spending the remaining 2 years of my sentence in custody instead of on parole where I should be just because of an address technicality.

It feels really unfair, especially as I have a son outside of prison who will have to undergo intensive brain cancer treatment without my support as long as I’m here.

I’m eligible for release mid-July if I can find a suitable address, and I’ve applied for a Crest public boarding house address, but they’ve advised me of a minimum 12-month wait time.

Do you guys at About Time have any information on parole addresses or parole address providers in Queensland? I just desperately need an address ANYWHERE in Queensland so I can be released from custody. The criteria around address assessment is much more relaxed when applying from outside of prison compared to inside of prison, so I’m confident of being allowed to return to my dad’s address within a month of being released IF I can find an acceptable release address.

Any help or information you could provide would make a huge difference and would make a huge difference to me and would be dearly appreciated by this humble soul…

Thank you if you can and thank you if you can’t. Please keep up the great newspaper. I can tell you it’s a light in our otherwise dark prison lives – especially those of us without much support and interaction from the outside.

Kind regards,

Zachy

Hi guys,

A big shout out to you guys for printing such a great newspaper. Personally I love and look forward to every issue. I am currently serving time at Woodford Correctional Centre, situated 25 minutes west of Caboolture.

It’s a beautiful part of the countryside to do some hard time in. Our prison yard faces a lush green mountain with a lovely meadow farm at its base. It’s funny watching cows coming and going from a secure prison lol.

I’m 46 years old. Before Covid-19 hit, I’d never been to prison a day in my life. But like many other people, I separated from my partner of 15 years during the long Covid lockdowns. Then my mother passed away and I fell apart and ended up homeless. I’ve now spent 4 years in prison for petty drug and property crimes. Completely my fault. But I am trying to make true change and stop this prison cycle. I do not have any family or friends in the Brisbane area, so I’ve decided to return to Far North Queensland, where I have family around the Cairns and Cooktown areas. Unfortunately, the parole board have deemed my father’s address as unsuitable without explanation. This was my only address option, and I am at risk of spending the remaining 2 years of my sentence in custody instead of on parole where I should be just because of an address technicality.

It feels really unfair, especially as I have a son outside of prison who will have to undergo intensive brain cancer treatment without my support as long as I’m here.

I’m eligible for release mid-July if I can find a suitable address, and I’ve applied for a Crest public boarding house address, but they’ve advised me of a minimum 12-month wait time.

Do you guys at About Time have any information on parole addresses or parole address providers in Queensland? I just desperately need an address ANYWHERE in Queensland so I can be released from custody. The criteria around address assessment is much more relaxed when applying from outside of prison compared to inside of prison, so I’m confident of being allowed to return to my dad’s address within a month of being released IF I can find an acceptable release address.

Any help or information you could provide would make a huge difference and would make a huge difference to me and would be dearly appreciated by this humble soul…

Thank you if you can and thank you if you can’t. Please keep up the great newspaper. I can tell you it’s a light in our otherwise dark prison lives – especially those of us without much support and interaction from the outside.

Kind regards,

Zachy

This
letter
was originally printed in the
June 2025
edition of About Time.
By Biannca

Just thought I would send in two photos of what I have been up to during my time in prison.

ISSUE NO. 26
1 MIN READ
By Chris

Finding information relating to Commonwealth Parole or people able to provide correct advice has proven challenging since I was sentenced.

ISSUE NO. 26
2 MIN READ
By Aidan

I am writing as I saw my partner’s article and it inspired me. This is probably my millionth time in prison, and time stands still.

ISSUE NO. 26
1 MIN READ
By Adrian

How do we escape the trap of feeling worse rather than better?

ISSUE NO. 26
3 MIN READ

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