Intractable

by Bernie Matthews

Intractable is a relentless and remarkable story of life on the inside of two of Australia's most brutal prison regimes - Grafton and Katingal - in the 70s.In 1969 Bernie Matthews was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 10 years. A serial escapee, prison authorities soon classified Matthews as an intractable prisoner and he was transferred to the Alcatraz of the NSW prison system at Grafton. There, life was a routine series of bashings and solitary confinement, and as the systematic brutality of Grafton became a political scandal, Matthews and other prisoners found themselves transferred to a fresh hell in 1975 - Katingal Special Security Unit inside Sydney's Long Bay Jail, Australia's first super-max prison.A concrete bunker with no natural light or fresh air, Katingal replaced Grafton's bashings with sensory deprivation and psychological control. Suicide attempts and self-harm followed. One of the longest serving and surviving Katingal inmates, Matthews did not see daylight for two years, eight months.Intractable is not only a shocking story of what it's like to do time but also a history of one of the great political scandals of the 70s from a unique perspective (Katingal was pulled down this year). It's also the eye-opening story of a man who managed to turn his life around in the worst of Australia's prisons to become a writer and prison activist.

347 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2007

Reviews

[Trent Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Australian members particularly, this is an incredibly vivid account of a part of our society that us "good people" don't want to see - the Australian Correctional Facilities. Written be a career gaoler, this is an autobiography of a man who was born into working class Australia, the child of a broken family and reasonably poor circumstances, and, unfortunately, lived over 20 years of his adult life in and out of correctional facilities. Bernie became a special kind of prisoner which the Department labelled "INTRACTABLE" meaning that he was fixated on breaking out of gaol and would most likely continue to do so so long as he was in a correctional facility. As Bernie explains, people aren't meant to be cooped up in a box they can't get out of - Bernie just made a conscious decision not to stay there. His gaol breaking efforts earned him the illustriuos title of being one of Australia's first inmates in a SuperMax prison at Katingal in New South Wales. He devotes a considerable amount of time to this part of his prison life.

Matthews managed to turn his life around; he graduated from University as a mature age student, majoring in journalism, and became a writer and some time columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald. He makes no excuses for his behaviour, but does have some strong advice for governments looking at the ways in whcih prisoners are treated and kept in Australia.

This book is an honest and authoratative account of a gaolers experience, as well as being a well written critical essay on modern day correctional facilities and practices. This book should be read by people interested in the Law, in social issues, and in people who enjoy good honest accounts of people, warts and all, regardless of the journey taken or the resulting outcome. A very good book.