To the About Time newspaper team,
My name is Michelle, this is my second time in prison. I’m 30 years old from W.A.
At the start of this prison leg, I struggled with the harsh reality (that I knew right from the start) that there are no friends in drugs. I’m currently in prison for drug offending and the people I spent most of my time with before incarceration were drug buddies. In the early days of this leg I wrote this:
There are no friends in drugs.
One of the hardest lessons, from being part of the drug scene then going to prison, is the feeling of loneliness, withdrawing and coming down, you miss your mates.
You forget that during your early days on the drugs, you always told yourself, “these people are not my friends.”
Time goes by, you call them mates and you forget what you said at the start.
Now you’re in jail, life goes on, you know you’ll be forgotten.
Remember right at the start, you knew it was only for the drugs.
You try to make contact, not knowing why, it’s still sad, when you realise, you’ve been forgotten. Your “mates” have moved on; but you’re still here.
After all, right at the start, remember you told yourself:
These people are not your friends. Cos there are no friends in drugs.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
To the About Time newspaper team,
My name is Michelle, this is my second time in prison. I’m 30 years old from W.A.
At the start of this prison leg, I struggled with the harsh reality (that I knew right from the start) that there are no friends in drugs. I’m currently in prison for drug offending and the people I spent most of my time with before incarceration were drug buddies. In the early days of this leg I wrote this:
There are no friends in drugs.
One of the hardest lessons, from being part of the drug scene then going to prison, is the feeling of loneliness, withdrawing and coming down, you miss your mates.
You forget that during your early days on the drugs, you always told yourself, “these people are not my friends.”
Time goes by, you call them mates and you forget what you said at the start.
Now you’re in jail, life goes on, you know you’ll be forgotten.
Remember right at the start, you knew it was only for the drugs.
You try to make contact, not knowing why, it’s still sad, when you realise, you’ve been forgotten. Your “mates” have moved on; but you’re still here.
After all, right at the start, remember you told yourself:
These people are not your friends. Cos there are no friends in drugs.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
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While being incarcerated, I have learnt how many members of the community are Deaf and have a lot of trouble communicating as very few people know how to use sign language.
When I get out I’m going to be hitting the gym but not sure if I’ll be taking steroids.
I just wanted to give a big shout out to the amazing people at the Salvation Army for everything that they do for us in prison and outside in the community over the Christmas period.
It’s a positive and strange feeling hearing your own story through the words of another and here was me thinking I was alone in my travels as many of us do.
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