Australia: "I just need it to end"

// Series of testimonials “A day in prison” (13)*

In prison, days follow one another but are not always identical. The conditions of detention, the rhythm of the days, the possibility of receiving visits, medical treatment, the food, or still the access to the right for defence, vary considerably from one prison to another, from one country to another. Prison Insider publishes testimonials of people who live or have lived in prison and can share their experience. This series of testimonials, “A day in prison,” puts into words the varying realities of imprisonment around the world.

— in collaboration with Prisoners Abroad

Ralph is a British citizen detained in Western Australia. He has been incarcerated for more than six years and is about to be released. He tells Prison Insider how a regular day goes by in prison.

I am finding it really hard to concentrate on one thing, my mind goes off in all directions, and so I’m hanging around the unit and cleaning.

I AM IN KARNET PRISON FARM, Western Australia. I have been in this prison for about four years. It is a working farm with a dairy, workshops, metal, wood, engineering, signage, laundry, kitchen and abattoirs ¹. It really is not a bad place.

If it were not so frustrating dealing with the Prisoners Review Board of Western Australia and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and all the restrictions put on me in prison due to my deportation and many other issues, I may have liked the place.

My mental state is not good at all; I just need it to end, to be able to see an end.

The day starts in the same way it has done for the past six years and nine months.

At 7 am. The prison officers come around to make sure no one is dead. I struggle to wake up as all motivation is gone. I am down to my last ounce of hope. You would think I would be excited about my release from prison with only three months to go, but I am not, as you will see as the day like any other continues.

7:25 am. Two sirens burst, the prison administration calls “Five minutes till master.” Three officers file through, one checking the IDs that hang around our necks against the master sheet while the other two are in and out of every room checking beds and making sure the room is clean with no damage. All done; now on with the rest of the morning.

First medication then Metamucil, vitamins and most important: coffee.

7:50 am. Ding, ding, ding, prison administration call, “The master is correct. General movement may now commence.” Off to work or whatever we do. At this time I am in education working on my writing skills, well lack of. I am however finding it really hard to concentrate on one thing, my mind goes off in all directions, and so I’m hanging around the unit and cleaning.

9:30 am. The prison administration calls my name. Now what? An officer informs me that I have a video link at 11:15 am and all the system says is that it involves visiting purposes. It turns out to be a woman from the Community Justice services for an interview. It deals with a report to go to the Prisoners Review Board to see if I will be put on a post-sentence supervision order after my full time in prison of seven years. The serving of my full time was due to my two years’ parole being denied by the same board. They based their decision upon a 2012 psychological report even though I am being deported. Western Australia seems to be the nanny state of the world in full swing. The interview lasted one hour. My head was pounding.

Every psychologist, every program, every interview for reports brings everything I have done back to me. I just need it to end.

Karnet prison farm produces food including milk, meat and eggs for the State’s prisons. Karnet prepares prisoners for “re-entry into the community” after their release, giving them “job skills linked to agricultural production: the prison breeds cattle and sheep and has an abattoir, a dairy, poultry farm, market gardens and an orchard”. Read more ↩

Edited by Avery Hudson