ISSUE NO. 9
April 2025
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Letters

To Women Behind These Concrete Walls

By
D

D writes from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Victoria.

'Inside Out Outside In' by Megan, available for purchase at Boom Gate Gallery

To Whom it May Concern,

Walking around DPFC and seeing the faces in here is overwhelming, but what you don’t see is the burden we carry on our shoulders and does not show on our faces. What you see is a lot of different faces from different parts of the state.

But what our faces don’t show is the mistakes, fear, anxiety, depression, mental health issues, regrets, loss of faith in a system so broken, sadness, loneliness, how broken we are inside, loss of our homes and jobs, our pain for our family and children. The women, who have been behind these big concrete walls, some for long term, some short stays, or months or weeks and some for many years … Yet with our flaws, mistakes, pain, depression, anxiety, mental health and more we are only trying to survive this broken system and being behind these concrete walls.

As in our darkest time, we have lost the battle of rational thinking and made mistakes. We have a voice, but through the system, our voices are muted. We are mothers, sisters, daughters, and even grandmothers. The system dealt with by police/judges/courts etc. only see us as a danger to the community and society.

Remember: people at the other side of these concrete walls – you have not walked in our shoes and hopefully you are not faced with a family member or your children who might make a mistake and are put through our broken system!

How will you react?

For the faces of all women in DPFC.

To Whom it May Concern,

Walking around DPFC and seeing the faces in here is overwhelming, but what you don’t see is the burden we carry on our shoulders and does not show on our faces. What you see is a lot of different faces from different parts of the state.

But what our faces don’t show is the mistakes, fear, anxiety, depression, mental health issues, regrets, loss of faith in a system so broken, sadness, loneliness, how broken we are inside, loss of our homes and jobs, our pain for our family and children. The women, who have been behind these big concrete walls, some for long term, some short stays, or months or weeks and some for many years … Yet with our flaws, mistakes, pain, depression, anxiety, mental health and more we are only trying to survive this broken system and being behind these concrete walls.

As in our darkest time, we have lost the battle of rational thinking and made mistakes. We have a voice, but through the system, our voices are muted. We are mothers, sisters, daughters, and even grandmothers. The system dealt with by police/judges/courts etc. only see us as a danger to the community and society.

Remember: people at the other side of these concrete walls – you have not walked in our shoes and hopefully you are not faced with a family member or your children who might make a mistake and are put through our broken system!

How will you react?

For the faces of all women in DPFC.

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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