My name is Steve. I have done 10 years prison time in Long Bay, Grafton, Parramatta, Goulburn, Maitland, Cessnock, Rockhampton, Arthur Gorrie, Borallan, Glen Innes and Silver Water. I got out in 2003 and have remained out ever since.
The first time I was in trouble, I would've been about seven years old, stealing a box of musk sticks. A bit of childhood petty theft and I went to Mt Penang for 18 months. Got out and lived on the streets of Sydney where I had my first taste of heroin. From there, with no life skills, my insatiable appetite for drugs grew. Anything to take me away from my emotional pain!!
Come 1986, I was given five years for car theft and seven years later I was given a further six and a half years for armed robbery.
Prison was....desensitising. Being 18 years old in Long Bay jail back in 1986 – the trauma continues to follow me to this day. It is a hostile environment where you are always on guard, constantly surveying your surroundings. It wears on you. 10 years is a long time. The biggest frustration was not being able to do an apprenticeship in those ten years. Both sentences were over five years – enough time for two apprenticeships.
I also found it hard to remain clean inside as there was always an abundance of drugs. Coming up to the end of my sentence I decided to do six months of rehab before re-entering society. My motivation to turn my life around came on a visit mid-way through my last sentence. The mother of my daughter said to me,"you think you're the world's best dad – did you think of her while jumping that counter?". From that day, I finally put someone before myself!
I eventually got out of prison, had a job lined up, saw a counsellor, did the Triple P parenting course and within a year of getting out, had full custody of my daughter who was now 11 years old!
What has sustained me since then is a different me – no longer obsessed with myself, I now work in a place where I do outreach BBQs and advocate for the drug using community. I give instead of take, and my daughter is finally proud of me and how far I have come. I have remained free since 2003 and am never looking back!
My name is Steve. I have done 10 years prison time in Long Bay, Grafton, Parramatta, Goulburn, Maitland, Cessnock, Rockhampton, Arthur Gorrie, Borallan, Glen Innes and Silver Water. I got out in 2003 and have remained out ever since.
The first time I was in trouble, I would've been about seven years old, stealing a box of musk sticks. A bit of childhood petty theft and I went to Mt Penang for 18 months. Got out and lived on the streets of Sydney where I had my first taste of heroin. From there, with no life skills, my insatiable appetite for drugs grew. Anything to take me away from my emotional pain!!
Come 1986, I was given five years for car theft and seven years later I was given a further six and a half years for armed robbery.
Prison was....desensitising. Being 18 years old in Long Bay jail back in 1986 – the trauma continues to follow me to this day. It is a hostile environment where you are always on guard, constantly surveying your surroundings. It wears on you. 10 years is a long time. The biggest frustration was not being able to do an apprenticeship in those ten years. Both sentences were over five years – enough time for two apprenticeships.
I also found it hard to remain clean inside as there was always an abundance of drugs. Coming up to the end of my sentence I decided to do six months of rehab before re-entering society. My motivation to turn my life around came on a visit mid-way through my last sentence. The mother of my daughter said to me,"you think you're the world's best dad – did you think of her while jumping that counter?". From that day, I finally put someone before myself!
I eventually got out of prison, had a job lined up, saw a counsellor, did the Triple P parenting course and within a year of getting out, had full custody of my daughter who was now 11 years old!
What has sustained me since then is a different me – no longer obsessed with myself, I now work in a place where I do outreach BBQs and advocate for the drug using community. I give instead of take, and my daughter is finally proud of me and how far I have come. I have remained free since 2003 and am never looking back!
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On 1 November 2025, QCS introduced a new pricing model: 20 cents per minute for all calls, mobile or local. A call that once cost 30 cents for 15 minutes now costs $3 – a ten-times increase.
I have been incarcerated for 22 months of a four-year sentence in Queensland jails. This poem is about my own situation.
Reading other prisoner’s stories inspired me to keep my head up and keep going now four months in, thank you all who share your stories and words of wisdom.
I moved units about a month ago and we feed some stray cats here. One even let me pat her last night! It's been over a year since I've patted an animal, so you can imagine how excited I was!
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