ISSUE NO. 22
MAY 2026

Letters

About Time dedicates many of its pages to publishing the letters of people in prison, as well as from their family and friends.

This is the centrepiece of the paper: a platform for people to share their experiences and learn from each other.

Latest

Why Mum Can’t Come Home

Stories I tell my children

By Hannah

I am currently remanded and I have two young children. My son is 8 and my daughter is 6. I have never told them that I’m in jail and instead explain to them that I’m at a facility that helps mummys and daddys get their minds and bodies strong again.

I’ve struggled to explain to them the lengthy time periods I’ve spent away from home, so recently I wrote them both a story that tried to explain why I’m not always around.

ISSUE NO. 22
2 MIN READ
Ike Curtis

‘I Try, I Really Do’

By Lynda

Mum I wish you knew how much I care, and how much I miss you when you’re not there.

ISSUE NO. 22
1 MIN READ

From a Mum With Her Son in Jail

By Lorraine

Living grief, as a mother, is waking each day with the knowledge that your child is still here, yet not truly free.

ISSUE NO. 22
2 MIN READ

Handling Family Issues From Prison

By Amos

Family issues trouble you the most while you are in the custody. Maybe you have a spouse or children. Or you may have close relationship with some members of the family. Some of us might have children in different states or overseas.

ISSUE NO. 22
2 MIN READ
By Dane

The following is in response to the article by Denham Sadler titled “Sweltering Behind Bars: Stifling Heat in Australian prisons”.

ISSUE NO. 22
2 MIN READ
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.

ISSUE NO. 22
2 MIN READ
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.

ISSUE NO. 22
1 MIN READ
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.

ISSUE NO. 22
2 MIN READ

Previous Editions

ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

We Need to Talk About Steroids

By Ahmed

When I get out I’m going to be hitting the gym but not sure if I’ll be taking steroids.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

Shout Out to the Salvos

By Nathan

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.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

How Music Helped Me Express Myself in Prison

By Sam

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.

5 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

There Are No Friends in Drugs

By Michelle

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.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

You Are Not a Number

By Rhiannon

I don’t know your name, your story, or the road that brought you here but I do know this: you matter. Right now. Exactly as you are.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

We Are One

By Adrian

I don’t know when or if this will be published but since my last published letter ‘Unjust Justice’, a lot has happened. It seems we have gone through so much and at the same time we still haven’t changed a bit.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 19
February 2026

G’day From Long Bay

By Andy

Another thing to know about prison is that some beds are so short in jail that tall people have to sleep in the foetal position or bump their heads two feet at night.

2 MIN READ
ISSUE NO. 18
January 2026

Forgiveness

By Grant

I have been incarcerated for 22 months of a four-year sentence in Queensland jails. This poem is about my own situation.

1 MIN READ

Welcome to About Time

About Time is the national newspaper for Australian prisons and detention facilities

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