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No Second Chance: One Woman's True Story of Prison Life in Australia
No Second Chance is Maree French’s firsthand account of life as a female prisoner in the Queensland jail system. She tells the unvarnished truth about Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre, an overcrowded hellhole where women were caged together in cells built for one, or in un-policed group units, where violence was the accepted mode of communication.
Prepare for raw images of life behind the razor wire, where frightened women, some incarcerated for unpaid parking fines, were locked down with killers and hardened criminals. Maree lived daily with meth addicts and drug mules, women who had tortured animals, murdered in cold blood, or committed fraud, but she quickly learned that the greatest crime inside a prison is ‘dogging’ – reporting a fellow-inmate to the authorities.
Witness the brutality, filthy conditions, lousy food, cruel treatment of traumatised and mentally unstable women, and the desperate reality of entrapment – away from nature, family and everything that makes life worth living. You will go even deeper withing the prison system, to peek behind the strip search curtain, the locked doors, inside the medical unit, the gym, and slave labour shed.
Meet the ancillary and medical staff, visiting teachers, Christian ladies out to save souls, and, of course, the prison guards – the kind, the indifferent, and the few who really cared. Oddly enough, prison officers spend more of their time in prison than many of the offenders; in some circumstances, a prison officer and inmate may spend up to sixteen years together … yet be forever separated by the uniforms they wear.
But No Second Chance has a lighter side. When the author is eventually moved to Numinbah, a low security prison farm, the relative freedom allowed a glimpse of the real personalities of women who had held their guard high in harsher conditions. As the inmates settle into an environment without fences, coiled wire, or relentless monitoring, the reader is treated to some of the funniest prison episodes on record and will meet the most intriguing characters ever to be locked up together.
This highly entertaining book is an eye-opener. No Second Chance dispels the myth that prisoners have it too easy, or that Australia’s nursing home residents would be better off in jail. Discover just how unrealistic TV prison dramas are … and perhaps – just perhaps – you might question the rehabilitative and moral value of prisons in contemporary society.
Prepare for raw images of life behind the razor wire, where frightened women, some incarcerated for unpaid parking fines, were locked down with killers and hardened criminals. Maree lived daily with meth addicts and drug mules, women who had tortured animals, murdered in cold blood, or committed fraud, but she quickly learned that the greatest crime inside a prison is ‘dogging’ – reporting a fellow-inmate to the authorities.
Witness the brutality, filthy conditions, lousy food, cruel treatment of traumatised and mentally unstable women, and the desperate reality of entrapment – away from nature, family and everything that makes life worth living. You will go even deeper withing the prison system, to peek behind the strip search curtain, the locked doors, inside the medical unit, the gym, and slave labour shed.
Meet the ancillary and medical staff, visiting teachers, Christian ladies out to save souls, and, of course, the prison guards – the kind, the indifferent, and the few who really cared. Oddly enough, prison officers spend more of their time in prison than many of the offenders; in some circumstances, a prison officer and inmate may spend up to sixteen years together … yet be forever separated by the uniforms they wear.
But No Second Chance has a lighter side. When the author is eventually moved to Numinbah, a low security prison farm, the relative freedom allowed a glimpse of the real personalities of women who had held their guard high in harsher conditions. As the inmates settle into an environment without fences, coiled wire, or relentless monitoring, the reader is treated to some of the funniest prison episodes on record and will meet the most intriguing characters ever to be locked up together.
This highly entertaining book is an eye-opener. No Second Chance dispels the myth that prisoners have it too easy, or that Australia’s nursing home residents would be better off in jail. Discover just how unrealistic TV prison dramas are … and perhaps – just perhaps – you might question the rehabilitative and moral value of prisons in contemporary society.
417 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 23, 2024
33 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 4, 2024
Entertaining, humorous, enlightening, shocking. A must-read around what women go through in the prison system.
December 21, 2023
There are not many books that take you into the gritty reality of prison life in Australia. But there need to be such books - so people will understand.
Maree French was incarcerated for 10 months in women’s prisons in Queensland. Her book is a graphic account of how she survived her time “inside”, first in the Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre, then in Numinbah prison farm.
It’s a confronting journey. We see up close the brutal reality of over-crowding (“With two women forced to share a cell, only one could stand at any given time”). Then there is the erosion of privacy (“not a single moment to oneself, to reflect, to release the overwhelming grief, to curl up in a ball and sob”). Worst of all, perhaps, is the “casual belittling” of already-broken women. And the crazy-making backdrop of relentless (and frequently pointless) noise.
Maree’s skill as a writer is her ability to take you into this world. So vivid and visceral is her description, that I felt as though I was in her cell with her – gritting my teeth and literally counting down the days.
Armed with a writing pad, a wry sense of humour and enormous stores of courage, Maree is able to find a way to survive. We see the small sparks of humanity, the “dangerous acts of kindness” from other inmates and the small routines that help to sustain Maree through long nights and longer days.
Along the way, there are some laugh-out-loud moments, like the tyre-flipping “fitness classes”. And the awful Xmas with the well-meaning Christian ladies. (What were they thinking? Or perhaps they weren't).
There is much to learn from this book. One thing that really hit home for me was how completely unsuitable (and harmful) the prison environment is for women who have experienced trauma. An overwhelming majority of women in prison are victims of domestic violence. Many have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused as children or adults. As any psychologist will tell you, no one can begin to recover from trauma unless they feel safe. Yet in prison, women suffering post-traumatic stress disorder are forced to live in an atmosphere of uncertainty and simmering violence. There has to be a better way.
Maree emerges from her time “inside” with grace, dignity and a powerful story to tell. Hopefully, it’s a story that will drive change.
This book is a must read for anyone who has anything to do with the criminal justice system. I only wish I’d been able to read it when I was a lawyer representing people in prison. Back then, I had no concept at all of what life was like for my clients. Thanks to Maree’s book, I can now start to understand.
Maree French was incarcerated for 10 months in women’s prisons in Queensland. Her book is a graphic account of how she survived her time “inside”, first in the Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre, then in Numinbah prison farm.
It’s a confronting journey. We see up close the brutal reality of over-crowding (“With two women forced to share a cell, only one could stand at any given time”). Then there is the erosion of privacy (“not a single moment to oneself, to reflect, to release the overwhelming grief, to curl up in a ball and sob”). Worst of all, perhaps, is the “casual belittling” of already-broken women. And the crazy-making backdrop of relentless (and frequently pointless) noise.
Maree’s skill as a writer is her ability to take you into this world. So vivid and visceral is her description, that I felt as though I was in her cell with her – gritting my teeth and literally counting down the days.
Armed with a writing pad, a wry sense of humour and enormous stores of courage, Maree is able to find a way to survive. We see the small sparks of humanity, the “dangerous acts of kindness” from other inmates and the small routines that help to sustain Maree through long nights and longer days.
Along the way, there are some laugh-out-loud moments, like the tyre-flipping “fitness classes”. And the awful Xmas with the well-meaning Christian ladies. (What were they thinking? Or perhaps they weren't).
There is much to learn from this book. One thing that really hit home for me was how completely unsuitable (and harmful) the prison environment is for women who have experienced trauma. An overwhelming majority of women in prison are victims of domestic violence. Many have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused as children or adults. As any psychologist will tell you, no one can begin to recover from trauma unless they feel safe. Yet in prison, women suffering post-traumatic stress disorder are forced to live in an atmosphere of uncertainty and simmering violence. There has to be a better way.
Maree emerges from her time “inside” with grace, dignity and a powerful story to tell. Hopefully, it’s a story that will drive change.
This book is a must read for anyone who has anything to do with the criminal justice system. I only wish I’d been able to read it when I was a lawyer representing people in prison. Back then, I had no concept at all of what life was like for my clients. Thanks to Maree’s book, I can now start to understand.
February 4, 2024
I started reading this book as excerpts in a FaceBook group I belong to. Maree French first caught my attention with her photo of living in her camper van and parking by a beach. An inviting scene complete with a story.
When this book came to Kindle, I re-read the first 3 chapters to centre myself and then dove in. I had not expected this book to be as excellent as it was, I did not expect that it would keep me entranced throughout the story to the end. Maree's experiences in prison were not much different than watching episodes of 'Wentworth', which I was once addicted to - but to be in the head of the lead character made it so much stronger.
I loved that she did not focus on the violence or the filth or the cruelty. I loved that she told us a complete story - of waiting to judge a woman until she could look into her eyes and see into her heart - of pausing before reacting - of trying to remain vegetarian and healthy in an environment that did not espouse good clean health. The vinyl mattresses and pillows, the petty thefts, the rules that stopped any kind of fun or building relationships. The hardship and heartache of the abrupt changes of living spaces. The appreciation of a bucket. The brilliance of how to keep your clothes clean and decent smelling... a number of small tricks that she was able to concoct to maintain her sanity.
It was heartbreaking to read of women's pain. Of being targeted for any of many reasons if you are poor, are black or brown, have mental health issues. Maree is a phenomenal voice for women behind bars - or not barred on the farm. Her story is as real as can be, her strength is indomitable and her observations are crystal clear. This book opened my eyes and my heart. She made women behind bars human. And it hurt. But her humour, her invention of names to protect the innocent - her bravery - still remains past the closing of the book cover.
When this book came to Kindle, I re-read the first 3 chapters to centre myself and then dove in. I had not expected this book to be as excellent as it was, I did not expect that it would keep me entranced throughout the story to the end. Maree's experiences in prison were not much different than watching episodes of 'Wentworth', which I was once addicted to - but to be in the head of the lead character made it so much stronger.
I loved that she did not focus on the violence or the filth or the cruelty. I loved that she told us a complete story - of waiting to judge a woman until she could look into her eyes and see into her heart - of pausing before reacting - of trying to remain vegetarian and healthy in an environment that did not espouse good clean health. The vinyl mattresses and pillows, the petty thefts, the rules that stopped any kind of fun or building relationships. The hardship and heartache of the abrupt changes of living spaces. The appreciation of a bucket. The brilliance of how to keep your clothes clean and decent smelling... a number of small tricks that she was able to concoct to maintain her sanity.
It was heartbreaking to read of women's pain. Of being targeted for any of many reasons if you are poor, are black or brown, have mental health issues. Maree is a phenomenal voice for women behind bars - or not barred on the farm. Her story is as real as can be, her strength is indomitable and her observations are crystal clear. This book opened my eyes and my heart. She made women behind bars human. And it hurt. But her humour, her invention of names to protect the innocent - her bravery - still remains past the closing of the book cover.
November 3, 2023
Prison life is a fascinating and suffocating topic to think about.
The helplessness and complete deprivation of freedom or privacy drains my energy just to imagine - and sometimes, people have these liberties taken away for things that, in my opinion, should go unpunished, or even be applauded. Not everyone inside is an evil, terrible animal - and not everyone outside is a pure, pleasant ray of sunshine, either.
Through storytelling, the author is able to describe what prison life is like and skillfully depicts the quirky, sometimes dangerous, and often funny situations and character traits of prisoners, too.
An enjoyable read that had me feeling upset and angry at times, and laughing out loud at other times.
I look forward to reading the prequel about the years leading up to this prison life experience.
The helplessness and complete deprivation of freedom or privacy drains my energy just to imagine - and sometimes, people have these liberties taken away for things that, in my opinion, should go unpunished, or even be applauded. Not everyone inside is an evil, terrible animal - and not everyone outside is a pure, pleasant ray of sunshine, either.
Through storytelling, the author is able to describe what prison life is like and skillfully depicts the quirky, sometimes dangerous, and often funny situations and character traits of prisoners, too.
An enjoyable read that had me feeling upset and angry at times, and laughing out loud at other times.
I look forward to reading the prequel about the years leading up to this prison life experience.
October 19, 2023
Insightful and honest story of life as a female prisoner in the Queensland's Jail System.
The author weaves hardship and humour through her account of life on 'the inside'.
We learn that inmates are locked up for very light offences and their time in there isn't easy.
Maree has a technique to take the reader on a visual and emotional journey. Loved this book, but got to the end too fast.
The author weaves hardship and humour through her account of life on 'the inside'.
We learn that inmates are locked up for very light offences and their time in there isn't easy.
Maree has a technique to take the reader on a visual and emotional journey. Loved this book, but got to the end too fast.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews