Australia's Toughest Prisons: Inmates

by James Phelps

These are the stories about Australia's hardest inmates, from Australia's hardest the true and uncensored account of life inside Australia’s toughest prisons.'Porky Pig' stalks the yard, snorting and grunting as he stares down the prison guard. "Whatcha looking at," yells Martin Bryant, Australia’s worst serial killer. The guard stays silent. Says nothing. He simply takes one step towards the monster, now fat, bald and broken. Bryant – who killed 35 people and injured another 23 at Port Arthur in 1996 – is a 160 kg slob who trades Mars Bars for protection in Risdon Prison. The secret lives of Australia’s most evil men will be revealed for the first time, with Inmates going on the record to talk about killers like Bryant, Ivan Milat, Neddy Smith, Carl Williams, Mark 'Chopper' Read, Michael Kanaan and Lindsay Robert Rose. Nineteen years after Australia’s worst massacre, his blond hair is gone, and so is his self-righteous smirk . . . but he is as evil as ever. Bryant has attacked several jail workers and has showed no remorse for the crimes that shook the nation. He is just one of the killers you will meet in Australia's Toughest Inmates . He then runs to the corner of the yard where he crouches, cowers, and calls for help like the coward he is.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

198 pages, Paperback

Published November 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 X · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really hated this book when it got to what looked like Islamophobia and a long letter of grievances that looked like meanness and racism just for the sake of it. It is punishment enough for most crimes to be locked up, deprived of freedom of everything from when to get up, what to eat, where to go and even to be in the fresh air.

But actually, that letter was what turned out to be the best part of this book. It was signed by all 13 inmates of the High-Risk Management Unit of Goulburn's Supermax prison on their harsh treatment and restrictions on them. Their would-be visitors, phonecalls, letters are all checked more and for longer than the average prisoner resulting sometimes in months of delays in contact and in any case they are not allowed to have more than three visitors at a time. They complain that they have almost no ability to be integrated with the general population of the prison despite having complied with everything the prison administration has asked of them and should be granted the same privileges as those, say, convicted of the horrible range of crimes a Supermax attracts including serial killers and rapists.

What infuriates these 13 prisoners most is that all communications must be in English. They say that this denies those who speak Arabic as a first language (some of the prisoners have been in Australia for a fairly short time it seems) cannot communicate with their families. It also infuriates them that prayer meetings must be supervised (and in English) and only Imams who have been vetted are allowed to come in and lead the prayers.

At this point I felt terrible for them. I thought this is Islamophobia at its worst, but then at the end I read that despite the fact that all these men had been convicted of serious terrorist offences they had had a much easier regime until it was discovered that a coded letter furthering their jihadist cause had been discovered and a mobile phone phone with an sd card with videos of beheadings had come to light. They deny both the letter and the phone saying that was in the prison population, not in their part of it, although they all met for prayer meetings.

There are many Muslims in the prison, other than these 13, none have been convicted of terrorist offences and are in the general population, so it isn't Islamophobia by any means.

What they fail to understand is that a murderer, a rapist, a serial killer who behaves themselves in prison is not putting anyone at risk as long as they are incarcerated. The isolation and extra precautions for those convicted of terrorist offences is to protect those outside the prison who are just as much at risk as if they hadn't been imprisoned if they can still communicate with people outside in a more or less lax and hardly-monitored fashion. Or perhaps they feel that despite them not sticking to the law of the land, that prison governors should be forced to stick to the rules of their institutions.

None of the prisoners and most of them are murderers, described in the book can be said to have an attractive personality. They are all among the worst and most evil of human beings, whether that is their chosen path or they had a bad upbringing that led them into crime. It was a good and interesting book, perhaps a 5 star for Australians who might well be familiar with the names of the prisoners and their crimes. It would be interesting to see a similar book about the most notoriously evil inmates of UK and US prisons.

[Terence M [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!] · Rating 1 out of 5]

1-Star DNF - "It was dreadful"

I have listened to Chapters 1-4. (15%)
Although I am an Australian, I find the dialogue, the "broad Aussie" accents of the narrator, and those of the characters he portrays, are embarrassingly over-the-top.
So much for purchasing an Audible "cheapie" - I should have known better.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book. It was not at all as I had expected. The 'inmates' often spoke in the first person with the narrator using a voice he felt reflected each particular inmate. I would have preferred a more 'documentary' style approach. The warning on disc one was certainly correct - very graphic.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real book that opens up the mind of the public about the horrible things that happen inside Australian Prisons.

Written by a local journalist, it is a good book for those interested in what most people are ignorant to.

[Logga Dogga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes you proud to be an Aussie

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Phelps delivers a book that is designed to disgust and shock you about what happens in correctional facilities. You learn what has become of some of Australia's most notorious inmates and how low they have personally sunk.
You are also given a glimpse of the constant battle between the guards and the inmates over the continued importation of contraband goods such as mobile phones and drugs.
The book provided some insight into the the world of inmates and corrections officers. With conditions that are not ideal for anyone to work or be incarcerated in.

[R. Evergreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book out of the library to learn about how inmates truly live their lives behind bars. I've always been a big fan of the prison genre, but wanted to understand what's factual and what's make-believe.
This book has been a great non-fiction read to learn how violent and insane life gets in Australia's prisons. What I've seen in movies is nothing compared to the rawness of real life. Also, some real escapes defied all odds and were much more creative than your average prison-escape TV show.

I will be reading Australia's Most Murderous Prison next.

[Nona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this novel by James PHELPS was very sensationalist, and had little appeal for me.
Yes there were stories of some well known and not so well known criminals, but PHELPS seemed to want to exacerbate everything. I listened to this book and the narrator, Stan Pretty and the producers, seemed to think it would enhance the story if he changed his voice to suit the character. He failed miserably.
More information on the prisons would have been favourable. We all know the 'dirty deeds' that are done in prisons, and for a book of this nature PHELPS should have done more research on the places and less on graphic details of the inmates.
He could take some lessons from Andrew RULE on how to write and tell a story of this genre.
Not recommended.

[Any Length · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat disturbing that we as a society cannot control our prison population to the point where there is no violence perpetrated among them or between them and the guards. That we find we need to segregate the Lebanese from the Islanders and that if they talk to each other they get into trouble. The extend of violence in jail is frightening and we are not giving the prisoners the right ways to rehabilitate but instead make them live in a world that is even worse than the dysfunctional one they came from. Thank you for pointing these things out and bringing them into the light.

[India · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting information - things I definitely didn’t know about the Australian prison system. The only thing I wish was in the book was more of an analysis of what Phelps recorded and for his opinion to be more present throughout the book.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by James Phelps, a must for all true crime fans : )

[Matthew Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good collection of information about modern Australian prisoners and their violent paths.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good read, not one of my favourites but I still enjoyed it.

[Gareth Coxhead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not to bad, some of the stuff is , well an eye opener. But good read anyway.

[Julie Berzins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters Include
The inmate code
Introducing the inmates
Making a murderer
Reception, Race and Rape
Helicopters and Hollywood
The Alleged Hitman and undisputed hardman
[Craig’s] field of [broken] dreams
Holy Terror
Smuggling and escapes
Horrible histories
Pedos, poofters & pricks

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful in many ways

[David Burke-Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gritty look at a side of life (if it can be called that) that few of us know about....

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The follow up to a fascinating book Australia's Most Murderous Prison, AUSTRALIA'S TOUGHEST PRISONS: INMATES tells the story of a number of people in prison - for a change not all of the usual role-call of participants that show up in these sorts of books. The definition of "toughest" here is something that's really up to the reader's perception - it could mean hardest to cope with, or most able to cope with dreadful circumstances.

There's something very off-putting about the opening to this book describing the behaviour of Martin Bryant. Perpetrator of one of Australia's horrifying massacres, Bryant is a rather pathetic character in jail, and you can't help wondering if his trading sexual favours for protection or chocolate is a great way to start a book like this - feeling as it does salacious or designed to shock on purpose.

Going from that story to those of some well-known prisoners, like John Killick who escaped from Silverwater in a stolen helicopter, and less well known, like the rugby player who became a drug mule, and even the founding members of Brothers 4 Life provides the author with an opportunity to explore some of the reasons why or even how repeat offenders or particularly violent individuals end up where they do. The consistency across these stories is variable though - obviously some have the benefit of subjects who were more forthcoming or there is more general information about the cases involved.

Because it is a considerably more personal telling than in the earlier book, TOUGHEST PRISON INMATES is a more confronting read. There are aspects that are of historical interest and there is some new information about why prisoners like Killick, for example, spent so many years in jail and why escape was seen as a viable option. There's also some interest in gangs, many of whom are particularly NSW centric and therefore not so well known in other states, or at least for this reader.

Written with the same engaging style as the earlier book, there's often a sense of connection between the author and some of the prisoners he talks to. There's certainly some glimpses behind the tough exterior to the thinking behind crimes and criminal lives and those sections of AUSTRALIA'S TOUGHEST PRISONS: INMATES were worthwhile and very interesting. Overall, sadly, this reader enjoyed this slightly less than the earlier book. There is some sort of weird sense of personal exploitation which made this harder to fathom, and then there's the sections on Martin Bryant, which flat out didn't contribute a thing that this reader needed to know.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...

[Nicole Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read - not for the faint hearted but a fascinating insight & in one case a trip down memory lane -

[Charlie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again another mind blowing insight to Aussie prisons.

The ending felt a little cut off and not as well executed as the last two but definatly worth the read.