Every day we receive letters from people in prison. Many share the impact of About Time on their lives. Readers have told us that they feel as if they have a voice for the very first time. Some talk about how the paper has helped them connect to others and lessen isolation. Many talk about the educative benefit of the paper, while others praise the newfound hope and sense of self-worth they feel reading a publication just for them. Here are all of their words.
About Time gives prisoners a voice and a platform. Contributing made me feel valued. The relatable content really makes you feel that you are not alone. In my 4th week of prison it is already making a hard situation somewhat better and has given me a more positive feeling. Keep up the great work, you are making a difference and helping countless people get through this experience!
I read your paper the night previous, and a part of me that previously was dead or dying suddenly felt alive and connected to others with similar struggles and trauma … So I just want to say thanks for your newsletter/prison paper.
Just because we're in prison doesn't mean everyone should forget about us.
With About Time - we are not forgotten.
Thank you.
Here, identity is often reduced to our MIN number, our sense of personhood is eroded day by day. Yet when an inmate's words or artwork appear in About Time, that person is recognised again as fully human, capable of thought, creativity, and contribution. There is no other service in Australia that reaches us in this way.
About Time has been a lifeline - when I was inside, it gave me a sense of purpose and feelings of camaraderie. The stories were really powerful. I have a chronic illness and suffer from intense pain, and writing for About Time has given me something to focus on and prevents me from going to dark places. Without About Time I don't know where I would be.
Thank you About Time - the printed voice of the prisons.
Thank you to all who created 'About Time' and for making it work. I am a deaf prisoner who is quite isolated within isolation. The newspaper is like a light at the end of a tunnel. Thank you.
Keep this paper going, has heaps of info for people like me, who know nothing about the system.
About Time volunteers, give yourself a pat on the back for this paper, well done! You have no idea the effect it has on the readers. Such a positive initiative towards all people incarcerated. Thank you.
Wow, I won the caption comp for December... I've never won anything and the whole jail is congratulating me. Our jail was never told about your newspaper – but in November 2024 it just showed up and all 120 girls love it. So please, please keep it up. We eagerly await it every month here.
Your work is so necessary for the nourishment of the incarcerated.
I have encouraged men like Tony, Adrian and others to contribute. Tony was so excited his two letters were published and receiving a personal letter from Denham Sadler. It increased his self confidence.
This paper is dedicated to prisoners which helps our mind health in so many ways.
The stories are from prisoners who want to share their views with others and that helps us do our time. It meant I could share my story with others who are feeling the same way. I feel this paper allows us to connect with each other.
About Time is a great way to learn what is happening in other jails. It was a chance to use my writing skills and use the tools to tell a story. Love this paper.
Please keep up the great work and thanks for giving us a voice.
Its my first time reading this paper and I love every thing that it offers, thank you for sharing information that all prisoners need to know.
It makes you feel like your feelings and thoughts are valid and others can relate to how you feel and together we can over come this negative time in our lives and turn this experience into a positive and heal and live your best life.
Because it comes from us that live it, us the real people that experience jail life every day every minute, people on the outside should really learn what actually goes on and the mistreatment we as prisoners go through we are all not bad people.
This is just the first of many times I will submit my words, my feelings and my thoughts I will continue to offer my help and guidance even when I am released.
Its good to share and connect without judgement give you self confidence.
I can't tell you how glad I was to see this paper come into my unit, a sign that times can and always will change the way we live, especially in prison.
Thank you for providing such a great source of information for people who have found themselves inside. I have been reading your papers now for a few months. I have really appreciated reading stories etc from fellow inmates. I have been struggling with the disconnection I feel from my loved ones, especially my beautiful partner Melanie. I thought I'd send in a poem I wrote expressing my feelings about the sadness but also the hope that I feel about seeing my girl. She is my everything and I miss her terribly. I hope that anyone who reads it finds comfort and hope in it. I pray to be back with her soon.
To About Time,
Thank you for your newspaper. I look forward to reading it each month. Its great! I enjoyed it from the first time I read it last year. Its made me feel connected, seen & heard. When I first went to jail I felt really alone and your newspaper helped me so much. Someone – well lots of someones – got how I felt. They understood. Thank you for that. I've written this poem while incarcerated. I really hope you will publish it for me.
Keep up the hard work – we need you guys.
About Time helped both me and my partner on the outside share some situationaI awareness. Cannot wait for the paper each month. The articles by other prisoners resonate with my own inner voice, they give my own feelings more universality. Submitting my writing feels as if I can make a difference.
Thank you About Time! Amazing work.
About Time gives a sense of community and belonging. It’s valuable to have my opinion heard and respected, to stay feeling valued and worthy.
To have a voice, to be heard with no fear of judgment. It gives a clearer perspective and to know that others experience the same things as we do in these places. Hear and see other peoples stories and know there is no judgement.
Because the truths are being printed rather than hidden.
Thank you for what you do.
I have no contact with my brother who is in prison and the newspaper gives me great comfort knowing I have some small insight into his life, a way I can connect with his world.
I first and foremost would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for all the hard work that goes into producing and providing myself and the other prisoners in Australia with your truly captivating content.
Your work and effort does not go unnoticed.
Thank you to the team at About Time for your efforts and hard work making the newspaper what it is.
This is my first time and I must say, stumbling across About Time has made things so much better. The open, honest, raw and relatable articles are real gems and resonate hugely.
Anyway, I felt compelled to contribute so here follows a few submissions for your consideration.
About Time
There is a great paper 'About Time',
Which is free and won't cost you a dime,
With articles galore,
It is never a bore,
And provides a refreshing angle on crime!
I have been in prison for over 13 years and I want to say that your newspaper is an amazing opportunity for all who have put the time in and it has been very well received throughout the Victorian Prison System.
I relate to a lot of people in this paper. I feel comfort in knowing I'm not alone in custody. I feel more connected, and well heard.
I feel submitting/participating in surveys makes me feel as my input is valued towards making a better paper! It's helped boredom and helped me better understand jail, as it's my first time (been here 4 months).
Keep producing a great paper! Thousands of us appreciate it! Love from Charlotte.
Thanks again for all of you working so professionally and with passion. The paper is a great success among the men I speak with. I encourage them to write. There is so much talent among the men to be shared.
This paper deserves all the support it can get. A way for prisoners to express their honest stories and gifts. A real way to heal and rehabilitate encouraging others to do the same.
He was pretty happy when he called, and had already cut the exercises out to stick on the wall in his cell!
Thanks again Edith. I hope all in the AT team really understand how much difference the paper makes.
Hello About Time and Readers,
I love getting the opportunity to learn about other prisoners and their stories from all over the country. We all have something to share and I encourage everyone to give it a go. Finding purpose is how we thrive beyond survival against all odds, especially in these circumstances that I'm sure we can all relate to.
Shout out to my girls at DPFC and anyone else incarcerated, struggling with their own consciousness.
A gracious thank you to About Time for giving us a necessary platform to express ourselves.
About Time helps me relate to my problems knowing others are also dealing with similar problems I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I feel that I have a connection to others with similar struggles and that I am not alone. I don’t feel as isolated over the past six years doing hard time.
It has given me the confidence in trying to write better and for help in bettering myself pre-release.
Due to reading this I know there is help and that there’s always some one worse off needing help.
Dear Rosie,
I just want to say how happy I am to receive a reply from you. I never expected an acknowledgement of receipt, let along a letter. This means a world to me. It shows that someone was kind enough to take their time to read through and understand what it meant and appreciate the event and the effects it bears upon the writer. I can not thank you enough for that.
To About Time,
I only just discovered the prison newspaper last month in April 2026.
I spent all day reading and sharing the newspaper here at Melaleuca Women’s Prison.
I had only just begun writing again since getting incarcerated this year in January.
When I found out about About Time I was excited to be able to write in to the national prison newspaper.
I do look forward to reading some of the submitted written work of others and possibly hope to enter into the next writing competition!
From Vanessa.
To read about people experiencing almost the same things that bother me makes me feel less isolated and that I am not crazy, some peace of mind and relativity, empathy and understanding.
To read about others going through the same experience is reassuring and comforting, it helps kill time, learn, laugh and relate.
Keep up the good work. We need you :)
Finally a voice for the unseen and unheard. First huge step in connecting prisoners.
There are way too many problems in jail, so to hope for better solutions is always an interesting find. Also staying connected to other's thoughts and feelings – it sort of feels like a union paper.
I certainly agree it helps give a more earnest effort of confidence in writing, but I do believe it is more to do with the burning feelings in one's heart that makes them feel compelled to write. Improved writing skills is just a bonus.
I personally look forward to the paper, as do so many others in prison. The impact was very moving – to hear other stories, to see legal opportunities available as well as fun stuff to do to keep us occupied (especially with so many lockdowns). It is in the word 'Impact' – To Act!
I’ve read every edition, and love what you do this paper brings hope and reminds us we are human.
From my poems I hope to bring hope! I want to reach people and if my poem somewhere helps someone then I have succeeded in my mission.
About Time has positively impacted my belief in myself. It has real life stories from real life prisoners.
About Time is filled with good and thoughtful people issues, because we all have contributed to it. Misery loves company, so to speak. I’m now 9 jail sentences in so am very much used to this but this is for us crims and has made us feel connected and that someone gives a f**k. By making us write letters, it helped stimulate the brain.
The paper gives me a positive attitude is because I felt good when I read this. Thank you and I love your work.
About Time is an avenue that we can express our frustrations, our gratitude and facts. It is a honest and reliable source that we can depend on, it is stories and facts from prisoners that hasn’t been distorted. None of the stories have been doctored. I really enjoy reading this honest media outlet. Thank you!
I'd like to give a shout-out to Vanessa from prison in WA and welcome to About Time. I discovered About Time early last year 2025 and always look forward each month for the read. Last year in two seperate issues I had stories published and seeing them in the national prison newspaper was the best feeling.
I've always had a love for writing but never had the time, now incarcerated I have nothing but time so I decided to put pen to paper and with two stories published I am now working on writing a book.
Sometimes when we write something worth publishing it is when we least expect it. For me writing is a powerful tool that helps with my mental health.
Keep up the good work and never give up writing, I look forward to future stories.
Thank you for your work providing the About Time platform which allows creativity and expression a space to flourish.
Last night I woke up with something I had to write down which is just how it happens, and I wrote this poem that I would like to share with everybody. I hope you like it too.
It would be nice if you could publish it as it is my hope that it will help people form more positive relationships in their lives and help contribute to a more pro-social society.
Thank you, I enjoy reading your newspaper.
Dear About Time,
Thank you once again for your amazing publication. I know I speak for myself and many of the other men here when I say that you publication is valued and appreciatedand we look forward to its arrival each month. It certainly becomes a central discussion point in the yard in the days following its distribution here. Both myself and the other men within my accommodation lodge read over every edition repeatedly.
I've written to you once previously with a poem that didn't make the cut. I hope my submission this time around is more in line with the material you're looking to publish. Once again, thank you for your incredible work in continuing to support, connect, and inform incarcerated men and women across the country.
I write to About Time so others can see their stories matter and others will maybe write in too or tell there families to. Cause it helps to deal with being stuck and also lets me get it out.
It makes me feel pain is only a thought not a feeling and everyone goes through it some don’t show it. Cause I see others feel it or live it too, I feel their pain as I too have lived it or gone through it.
It is a space of free speech and also gives good advice and also hope and strength.
I've been following your paper and I love it. I find it very cool and entertaining.
Dear About Time,
I was very excited to see the writing competition article in the latest edition. Included is my submission. It's based on my own happy place (nature) and even if it's nowhere near good enough to be included in the newspaper, just having the chance to write creatively is fantastic. So thank you.
I did get a copy of the paper with my article in it and I was pleased that some of my villain mates approved and wanted me to sign their copy. As a published author I charged them one Tim Tam per signature.
I love this newspaper and enjoy reading it from front to back and back to front. I really enjoy looking at the artworks. You published one of my artworks, DEEP OCEAN, so thank you. I am very proud of that artwork. I taught myself to do art as I was severely bullied and abused, mentally, and physically, growing up and until this very day and I find it is good escape for my mental health. It helps me copy with all the bullshit and bullying that goes on in this place, that I've called home for the past 9 years. I have a minimum of 6 years left to go and then hopefully I can leave this place behind me. I'm not sure where I will restart my life once I'm out, but I guess I still have time to sort that out lol. Well that's all I wanted to say so thank you and keep up the wonderful work.
I am thankful for any and all social and creative outlets such as yourselves involved in the creation and distribution of your newspaper. They provide a link or window to another place, an opening for personal expression and a greater sense of community for those who choose to make use of the opportunities. Having someone stop you in the yard to tell you that they were impressed with your writing is valuable and reinvigorating.
It was great to see prisoners being spoken of in a constructive and positive way, as I'm sure you're aware that isn't the norm in Australia. I look forward to hearing back from you and hopefully reading your newspaper.
Congratulations on the launch of About Time. I can only imagine how many obstacles you have navigated to successfully sail the product into Australia's prisons, and from where I sit it was very warmly received by the inmates, security and medical staff that I share time with. Well done, and thank you for delivering us something we didn't know we needed until we received it.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
To About Time,
I only just discovered the prison newspaper last month in April 2026. I spent all day reading and sharing the newspaper here at Melaleuca Women’s Prison. I had only just begun writing again since getting incarcerated this year in January.
When I found out about About Time I was excited to be able to write in to the national prison newspaper. At the time I had no idea what to write. I wanted to enter the writing competition but the subject “Food For Thought”, is one of my least favourite food sayings!
So I was a little put off and tried a couple attempts to write something about it, not succeeding in my attempts. I do look forward to reading some of the submitted written work of others and possibly hope to enter into the next writing competition!
Kind regards, and thanks for your work.
Thank you for what you do for Australian prisoners and their families.
Hey guys, I love getting the chance to read about other prisoners all around the country each month and thought I would share my story.
Dear 'About Time' editors,
The poetry by Leslie at Ravenhall and Robert here at Wolston really stood out for me.
Keep up the wonderful work you all do.
I thank you for taking the time to listen to my experience, take care everyone.
Just good to see us Blackfellas get something as we don’t get much down here and we are locked down well over 50% of the time.
Thanks again for the opportunity to hone our skills.
Thank you so much for taking the effort to bringing us this publication and I hope to see many great issues to come.
Thanks for your time and effort it’s appreciated a lot. I look forward to hearing from you and having my topics published in your article.
I have to say I am really digging the paper, it's a great read.
Just wanted to say keep up the good work.
Great work with the paper keep it up… Since reading your paper I realise other prisons go through the same issue. It's not fair or humane.
It's a bolstering feeling when we get the paper inside. For a moment it feels like we're being remembered as human beings – and not faceless offenders identified only by a series of numbers.
I, and my mates, enjoy your paper and I've enclosed a copy of the last page of an actual letter I wrote my wife last week.
Thank you Denham for writing back to me about the lockdowns happening here at DPFC. And I especially say thanks for your guidance in writing the article. Thank you again for all your help with this.
Best wishes for this humane project.
We may be criminals, but we also cry at night.
Having been encouraged by your 11th edition prison newspaper, regarding a 'judicial review' process, I have learned and gained immeasurably, familiarising myself with processes otherwise unknown by the majority of inmates in the Victorian prison system.
Thank you for another month of your National prison paper. When I see my name as a winner of the Caption Competition I was wrapped. Thank you…
I read your paper the night previous, and a part of me that previously was dead or dying suddenly felt alive and connected to others with similar struggles and trauma … So I just want to say thanks for your newsletter/prison paper.
Lastly About Time, keep up doing a great job, your help getting our stories out to others helps us all.
Love that yous are doing what you can to provide something for us all to read and pass the time.
Thank you, keep up good work.
About Time made me look at things different. I wrote because I just wanted to share my experience.
With care and solidarity.
Some of my students enjoy writing, and I’d like to try and get them to write for About Time. Seeing other people in custodial settings writing articles might inspire them.
Hello, firstly I must congratulate you for your latest publication and I must tell you that many people including officers read and enjoy it, so keep it up.
"My "God" worked through by caring and healing others like many contributors are doing with About Time, and, with my willingness to "grow up" and cooperate with help offered, I am free – even in prison. This is the continuous "therapy" I receive from those considered on the "bottom". Never doubt your goodness.
Thank you all, my tears are the melting of my emotional iceberg! May it continue to melt!"
I gave paper copies of AT out to inmates with tablets today, and got a round of applause for it. One guy said it’s the best thing anyone has done for them, so yes please, keep them coming. I will promote it internally. Inmates said it was like being reconnected with the world again.
Thank you once again for your amazing publication. I know I speak for myself and many of the other men here at Middleton Correction Centre when I say that your publication is valued and appreciated and we look forward to its arrival each month. It certainly becomes a central discussion point in the yard in the days following its distribution here. Both myself and the other men within my accommodation lodge read over every addition repeated. Thank you for your incredible work in continuing to support, connect, and inform incarcerated men and women across the country.
Firstly, I would like to say how great it is to finally have a nationwide paper focused solely on prisoners and issues relating to prisoners as people, not just prisoners. I look forward to each edition and hope it is here to stay!
I thank you again for everything, the newspaper, your letters and the time you take reading mine. You have been an inspirational part of my journey and have helped contribute to my focus of change for a better and successful future and pursuit of living up to my true potential and ultimately striving to live my best possible life. Thank you.
Keep up the fight.
Thank you for the paper copy of About Time. The November & December 2025 got through to me. I look forward to maybe receiving them now I'm back here. Your section on Christmas Greetings was well received by inmates. A wonderful addition to the December issue. Keep up your efforts. The paper is nourishing. I'm encouraging new men to share their stories. So much talent.
I've just listened to Joseph's podcast on ABC RN. What a relatable, informative and honest conversation!
Those articles, by other prisoners he doesn't know, somehow lessen the physical and mental isolation often experienced.
I’m writing to you today to tell you guys I love the newspaper I read every copy I can get.
Thank you for doing the work you do guys.
Keep up the amazing work Rosie and crew.
I subscribed last week and have just finished reading the paper edition of About Time. I wanted to write to say 'congratulations'. The paper is a remarkable achievement, a rare and valuable 'good thing' in a difficult and draining system. I am particularly impressed with the paper's focus on fostering community, as well as its national scope.
I showed a copy to my client today and he confirmed that copies have been freely available to him during his last stint on remand in Victoria. He says that it has helped him to start thinking about the Redress Scheme and whether he may be eligible for compensation.
I am impressed by the positive tone of the paper, and the contributions from persons in custody.
Reading the paper made me want to contribute somehow… well done, keep up the good work.
Have been loving getting About Time in the mail each month, thanks for the fantastic work you do for our incarcerated community!
Thanks for all your great work with this publication and with your excellent follow-up.
Thank you for your wonderful newspaper. It brings happiness to so many prisoners like me who made an error in judgement and wish this nightmare was over.
Keep up the good work, good vibes, and great paper. I'm sure everyone in jail really appreciates your efforts (including me!).
Thank you! I spread the word About Time when I can.
This is my first time writing to About Time. I love reading articles that been published. I find them fascinating to read, so I thought of writing an article and share what I have to say. I hope that you find my article interesting to read and also be published. Writing stories has inspired me to keep my head up and smile, being 7 months in.
I would like to say a big thanks to the publishers of About Time newspaper for creating such a good opportunity for inmates have a turn to talk and share. Thanks for shining a light on our darkness.
I just received a copy of issue 15 and once again I have a near overwhelming feeling of enthusiasm. Thank you.
Hello Mini, Rosie,
Thank you so much. I feel humbly encouraged.I do believe that in my monologue about water, I went into a zone.
A zone that reflected a dark period, yet one in which I was able to tap into the sort of hope I felt when immersed in that life-giving, soul-nourishing water. I went to places, in that talk, I haven't been to for nearly 40 years. And that I've never spoken about, out loud. I worried at the start of the exercise whether I'd be able to recall anything with five-senses resolution. I was wrong.
Perhaps if I had people speechless, that's a good thing? Perhaps it brings us all back to the bone-deep reality of life inside; aneasthetises our senses for a moment, occasions a reset, and renders possible further externalising of experiences. Perhaps we, in trying to capture our prison experiences, teeter on the precipice of fear – and in that state, we pause before measuring if we have the strength to fully give of our experiences.
I do believe that I chose to leap into that chasm of fear, and give voice to one aspect of my experience of imprisonment. I think I succeeded.
Thank you so much for giving us all a forum, a platform to externalise our experiences. The hope is that it helps people inside to feel seen and validated, and humanised.
With great thanks,
Steve
Hello Denham,
I offer congratulations for your June edition and your article about prison Dentists was very familiar. So much so that I thought I might compose a little history of my own dental nightmares.
Thanks again for your continued publication. Keep up the good work.
We heard about you on ABC and were struck but what a great project this is. A very deserving population for this work to impact.
Keep up the great work guys
I heard about you on Radio National this morning. What a brilliant idea.
It arrived yesterday thank you so much! The residents really enjoy reading them.
The articles and stories you read in 'About Time' and other outlets change lives. They have the power to help people to make informed choices. And they can also inspire readers to think in different ways and try different things. Being a writer is exciting and rewarding. So, this article is for all those people who have tinkered with the idea of penning a story. This publication, like all publications, is always on the lookout for fresh talent.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this submission.
I know it would mean a lot to my partner if he saw it in your paper. He reads it religiously. Inside and out.
You DO make a difference!
First of all I would like to say what an awesome magazine – keep up the good work.
Thanks for reading, I hope it made some sense, I love the About Time paper and what it does for the world.
Thanks again for the great content in the March 2025 issue.
I have been reading About Time since issue one and I'm loving it so far.
Keep up the great work.
Love your newspaper, it provides a lot of people a bit of light :)
To the wonderful people who volunteer their time and effort to make About Time possible… Thank you About Time for giving inmates a platform to express their concerns.
I'm a big fan of your magazine/newspaper and I look forward to it each month. I enjoy reading things written by other inmates like myself across the country.
Thanks for the correspondence, the comments are appreciated as it meant a lot to express a troubled percentage of my life; it was relieving to define these problems along with solutions, thanks for the opportunity to use your stage.
I contribute to About Time so that others can relate to my experience in some way or there’s been something I’ve related to.
With the hard copies, the English class use some as resources.
We’ll continue to read About Time with interest – Denham Sadler’s recent article was excellent, so congratulations to you and the team on the work you’re doing.
Thank you for your work. Was actually planning on starting a newsletter at my centre to spread news but found 'About Time' and was satisfied.
Submitting writing to About Time made me feel valued, I can read about what other people go through. The response I got was validating and my poem got posted, it was really nice to feel appreciated and recognised. I love reading About Time, it makes me feel not so alone in prison and more informed too. Thank you for doing About Time.
Since reading the December issue of About Time, I have started to read the Bible. I want to say I am not a religious person, but there are so many things I can relate to and I think I am getting to know myself better through reading it. I don't think I would have picked it up if not for Denis's letter published in the December 2024 issue; a very big thank you to you my friend you have been a big influence on many people over the years. I look forward to more poetry. Keep up the good work mate.
Thumbs up from everyone for the newspaper, it's amazing!
Again thanks for the great mag.
About Time is now my favourite paper in prison. Just because we're in prison doesn't mean everyone would forget about us. With About Time – we are not forgotten. Thank you.
Thank you again for the paper and the feeling of belonging we get from reading the paper.
Thank you the guys in here all appreciate your news paper, it gives a great insight of us in here.
Thanks for listening and I really appreciate what yous do for us crims locked up do time around Australia. Also I really hope yous publish my letter and drawing I did for yous paper.
Honestly thank you everyone that puts in there hard time in making the newspaper what it is I truly enjoy reading it every time.
Thanks for publishing my piece on the young men's dialect in August - although I thought your normally excellent illustrator went overboard in depicting me with a walking stick.
Thanks again for printing my stuff - it gives me great satisfaction.
Good work – very needed.
Thank you for this newspaper, it makes me feel less lonely, more comforted and I have hope for my future.
Thanks for your work folks!
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