Green Is The New Black: Inside Australia's Hardest Women's Jails

by James Phelps

Ivan Milat, the notorious backpacker serial killer, is not the most feared person in the prison system. Nor is it Martin Bryant, the man responsible for claiming 35 lives in the Port Arthur massacre. No, the person in Australia controversially ruled ‘too dangerous to be released’, the one who needs chains, leather restraints and a full-time posse of guards is Rebecca a self-mutilating murderer, infamous for slicing guards and stabbing another inmate 33 times.But Butterfield is not alone. There’s cannibal killer Katherine Knight, jilted man-murderer Kathy Yeo, jailbreak artist Lucy Dudko, and a host of others who will greet you inside the gates of Australia’s hardest women’s jails. You will meet drug dealers, rapists and fallen celebrities. You will hear tales of forbidden love, drug parties gone wrong and guards who trade 40-cent phone calls for sex. All will be revealed in Green Is the New Black, a comprehensive account of women’s prison life by award-winning author and journalist James Phelps.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

James Phelps is an award-winning senior reporter for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph in Sydney.

He began as on overnight police rounds reporter before moving into sport, where he became one of Australia's best news-breaking rugby league reporters.

James became News Corp Australia's Chief National Motorsports Writer and travelled the world, chasing F1 stories as well as becoming Australia's number one V8 Supercar reporter. James is also a senior feature writer for the Sunday Telegraph.

Following the bestselling Dick Johnson: The Autobiography of a True-Blue Aussie Sporting Legend, James returned to his roots to delve into the criminal underworld with a series of crime books: Australia's Hardest Prison: Inside the Walls of Long Bay Jail; Australia's Most Murderous Prison; and Australia's Toughest Prisons: Inmates. James is a twice V8 Supercar media award winner and a former News Awards 'Young Journalist of the Year' and 'Sport Reporter of the Year'.

Reviews

[Petra thinks 86F humid feels as bad as 114F dry]

Update "Men spend their time on shivs but girls will be using their creativity for sexual gratification rather than protection or violence. They use bottles, whatever they can. Zucchini was probably the oddest I've seen." Interesting difference between men and women in prison in Australia.

I always used to like zucchini, or at least the little, tender ones.... But not everyone does ;-)

We used to have a garden out in minimum-security,’ explained a female officer who worked at Bathurst Correctional Centre in the late 80s and is still in the Department of Corrective Services. ‘And they would grow vegetables there. The most popular vegetable was the zucchini. I had no idea at first. But that’s all they wanted to grow.’ And grow they did, a whole vegetable patch full of zucchinis – big, hard and long.

‘We had no idea for at least a year,’ the officer continued. ‘And then someone asked somebody else in the kitchen about the zucchinis.’
So what about the prized zucchinis? The girls love ’em. That’s all they grow in the garden.
‘The cook said, “Zucchinis?” He had never cooked one in his life. And we were like, “What the … oh, yeah”.’

And then the cell searches started. ‘Yep,’ the officer said. ‘We found the zucchinis. They were hidden under beds, kept in drawers and tucked behind picture frames.’ The big ones anyway.

[Lanai]

Meh- I feel as thought Phelps exaggerates and stretches out the disgusting aspects of jail with little to be left to the imagination. It's shock factor wears off after a few chapters- as the book mostly covers sex, and vaginas (typical...). It would be, in my opinion, much more interesting if Phelps had covered other aspects of jail like food, relationships (friendships in and out of prison), the history of women's prison culture in Australia and so on. It was very easy to read and was enjoyable to an extent- but in one of the last chapters the author basically threw in a policy on transgender inmates which was just 3-6 pages of boring inaccessible text. Additionally, I felt as though Phelps had an agenda when writing this book, and I particularly could feel this when talking about transgender inmates. Overall, an easy and fun read if you're on a plane but I would take what's written with a grain of salt.

[Nez]

This book would have gotten 4 stars if it had been well written. It was eye-opening, interesting and well researched, but the style of writing and structure were terrible. The use of italics was ridiculous; I have no idea what the author was trying to do there. Whoever the editor was - should be sacked!

[Anna]

I listened to the audio version of this book. It was graphic however not to the extent of its male inmate counterpart. I dislike it when the narrator attempts to use different 'voices' for each character particularly in this case as a male narrator attempts to produce a female voice.

[Sara]

Wow, this author is amazing. This book was very interesting and kept me hooked. I can't wait to read more from him. A must for all true crime fans.

[Natalie Miller]

Interesting book with some riveting stories, but most definitely could have used another edit before publishing! So many spelling errors!

[Amanda]

The writing is an absolute shitshow and it reads like a trashy tv tabloid but the subject matter is interestingggggggg.

[Tracey Allen at Carpe Librum]

Australian author James Phelps takes a look at some of the most violent and notorious female prisoners behind bars in Green Is The New Black: Inside Australia's Hardest Women's Jails.

Phelps doesn't hold back describing the lives of the inmates so this isn't for readers with a weak stomach. Occasionally the writing appeared salacious and the shock factor swiftly wore off for me. I soon became disgusted by the practices of the inmates as well as the stories and encounters re-told in this book.

Particular stories felt sensationalised and despite some of the well-known prisoners and infamous true crimes mentioned, I lost interest early on.

Just as he did in Australia's Most Murderous Prison: Behind the Walls of Goulburn Jail, Phelps occasionally inserted a narrative nonfiction style of writing, which seemed to fictionalise an inmate's experience as if it was taking place right now. There was no consistency to these changes in writing style, which left these sections oddly juxtaposed with the standard non fiction delivery.

Only recommended for hard core true crime fans with an interest in Australian prison life for female inmates. I'm sure there are better books out there for those wanting to read about the individual inmates mentioned.

[Sofface]

Oh, my, gosh. Thank you. Thank you so much James for writing such a compelling true crime novel.
I couldn't put this one done.
Full of gruesome details, so not for the faint of heart.
Highly recommend for any true crime enthusiast.

[Kim Castelli]

Phelps really said ‘facts? never heard of her.’ My guy should stick to writing about cars - this read like a Year 7 diary entry someone found under a mattress.

[Amy]

I found this book frustrating to read due to some of the stylistic choices. The POV of the italicised sections is not clear, and doing a good ol’ copy and paste on the transgender act which is EIGHT PAGES LONG just seems plain lazy. Many paragraphs end the same way, with an overuse of ellipses attempting to create some sort of drama, which comes across as the author trying too hard or like it was written by a school student (e.g. ‘Someone saw more. Much more...’ and ‘And when I say gory...I mean GORY.’)

Overall it’s interesting subject matter, but poorly written.

[Deb Kingston]

A real eye opener to what goes on in prison as well as the justice system. Written in the simplest language and not for the faint hearted it is like "is this for real", in parts shocking but realistic, no wonder our jails and justice system is so not working and never will while it continues to know what goes on and just turns a blind eye to drugs as well as their own contribution of doping, sex etc. Going by this book jail is just another word for your local free for all no rules drug houses called Correctional's run by the criminals behind the bars and a minority on the other side of the bars and only getting worse by the day. As for rehabilitation for the majority of drugged out inmates what a farce. Thanks goes to James Phelps for telling it like it is.

[Nel Lombardo]

Very interesting read. Allows you to step behind the walls of some of Australia's toughest prisons without going there... and you would not want to go there. From the staff to the prisoners themselves gives you an idea of the mindset of those who work within the walls and those who cannot escape. I enjoyed to the personality analysis on some of the worst offenders and how stupid the system can be. I do recommend reading this book if you are a an avid crime enthusiast. This book, along with Ice Nation should be compulsory reading in schools to scare the shit out of some kids who are headed down the road of drugs and crime.

[Tina]

I picked this up when browsing the shelves at work for something to read. It's an easy read - simple language, largish text, and an interesting look at life in some of Australia's women's prisons, mostly all in NSW. I was most interested in the bit at the end about transgender prisoners. Seems at the time the book was written (not sure if that's changed since), to be housed in a women's prison, one just had to identify as female. Not that it would have happened often, but this was abused by at least a couple of men mentioned in the book. Hmmm....

[Annette Bisinella]

This is not a tv drama this is the real deal. Actual prisoners and guards telling their experiences in Australias prison system. And its fantastic! I didnt want a book that told me everyone gets along and lives happily ever after. I wanted and got the shocking in jail crimes, deaths, trannies, fights, crazy bitches and sex with guards. The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
A must read!! Everyone wants to know what happens behind closes doors.

[Christian Clark]

It’s not that it wasn’t an interesting read, it was. However it was atrociously written! Grammatical errors litter the first few chapters and the style is pure salacious exploitation. The inclusion of the ENTIRE policy on transgender inmates was only there as filler but did luckily detract from the overly sensational chapter on transgendered inmates. I feel the writer purely focused on and exaggerated the more gruesome aspects of prison life and offered very little insight. Interesting though.

[Jess]

Quite an interesting read about women's jails in Australia. I had not heard of many of these women and it brought some insight into what happens in jails but also what these women have done/haven't done to be put in our jail system.
I did feel that the transgender chapter was too wordy, with the rules and regulations added into the chapter but in saying that I did find it to be an interesting chapter to read about.

[Ash ☆]

I hate when books could he half as long if the author stopped repeating the exact same things, and this is one of those books.
There were also ALOT of things that didn't have the right spelling, or sentences that just didn't make sense because it wasn't noticed during the editing process.
The information took a back-seat to having the whole book feel like you were reading an essay from a high school student that clearly didn't check their work before handing it in.

[Chloe Hollis]

Didn’t really like the book itself but I did learn a lot about the prison system and about some of Australia’s worst criminals.
I watch a lot of crime shows and documentaries and read a lot of books too so thought this would be the book for me. Although I didn’t enjoy it I still found it intriguing

[Kathleen Stuart]

This book probably should’ve started with a few trigger warnings, but I suppose if you are reading this book in the first place maybe you should realise that it’s going to have some triggering content in it.
As with other James Phelps books it is an interesting read. A good insight into the prison system and its inmates

[Troy]

Picked this one up to satisfy my true crime interest. Have red plenty of true crime about mens prisons ect then really felt interested to see how womans prisons were and the gang structure they ran ect. Was a good read with plenty of inside details of womans prisons told by former prisoners and guards alike. Some very graphic scenes in the book as you would expect given the category.

[Glizzy sweet]

Really good up until the heavy transphobia in the last chapter made me skip to the end. Pushing The idea of men pretending to be women so they can get out in women’s prisons is pretty fucked considering the immense abuse and murder trans women face in both men’s and women’s prisons from inmates and guards. Really unfortunate because I think the rest of the book is worth 4 stars.

[Harrison Cooper]

Like James’ other books, I didn’t hate it but I’m not jumping out of my skin over it either. It’s an easy read and gives a detailed look at what life is like inside women’s prisons. There are some pretty graphic prison yard stories, which you’d expect with this type of book. Interesting enough, but not one that really stood out for me.

[Heidi Rose]

Although the context of the book was interesting, it could have done with another round of editing, as it did feel very slapped together to get it out on the shelves for sale.

It was ok for a quick read on the plane.

[Robin]

An interesting and confronting expose of life inside women's jails. I thought the writing a little too sensationalist at times, at other times almost coy. The sort of book you have to read in bits and pieces because some of the details are somewhat unpleasant - to put it mildly.

[Kate]

At times I felt the author was quite judgemental of the prisoners referenced in the book which left me a bit disconcerted. Some parts felt like they were written with passion and others felt like it was a "point & laugh" scenario.
Overall enjoyable read though.

[Carla]

I enjoyed all the gory and graphic details in this book; the sex, drugs and violence.
His views on transgenders are very outdated and I didn't think it was necessary to put in all the pages of the NSW prison regulations relating to transgender inmates.

[Michelle See]

I love James Phelps!
My only complaint is the books are never long enough.
TV shows like “Wentworth” & “Orange is the new........” don’t even touch the sides when JP writes about the actualities of real prison life

[Courtney]

An interesting insight into the world of Australian women's prisons. I enjoyed James Phelps book on Goulburn jail which is what lead me to this book. Overall a good read if you're into true Australian crime.

[Katie Rowe]

This was ok,
It was very graphic at points and sometimes I had to put it down after only reading 10 or so pages.

This is my second James Phelps book and I have decided I won't be reading any more of his books.