Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

find themselves behind bars. I receive basic induction information, more
like her wanting to know something about the new prisoner who is settling
down in E Division, Unit 3, Cell 18. I have no addictions, I do not need
any medication, but I have a problem with my legs.
‘We’ll see if we can get the compression stockings for you, but it won’t be
before Monday or Tuesday because Property closes over the weekend’.
We have a general conversation about life and when I inform her I’ve just
come from G Division and why I am locked up she smiles and says, ‘You
shouldn’t be here at all and we’ll get you into F Division’.
I ask her whether it was in this E Division, in the debtors wing, that some
years ago a group of young men broke into the prison, there to be with their
mates for New Year’s Eve celebrations – but the phone rang and she was
called away and I never found out whether this story was true. The
Advertiser certainly reported on it – so it must have been true.
Sunday, 23 August: Dave spends time outside the cell for association and I
just relax and return to my own addiction – writing. What a delight it was to
be free of that for a whole week while in G Division!
In the evening we watch TV but only until about 8 p.m. because Dave is an
early-to-bed and early-to-rise man, which suits me fine. As soon as the wing
is settled down, though, the messages start flying about. There is a story told
about a woman officer not yet out of the wing and the fellows begin their
trade, and she shouts back at them before closing the wing door, ‘Can’t you
wait till I’m out of here?’.
I am impressed by the skill, artistry and ingenuity of those fellows with their
fishing lines – some can get around corners with ease, not only around
corners but to the end of the corridor, making a stop at most cells on the way!
Such matters, and my observations made during previous imprisonments,
lead me to conclude that the drug trade should be legalised but, of course,
within the context of severe government control. The way the drug laws are
applied serves only to reinforce a questionable social hierarchy because most
prisoners on drug-related charges have not had the money to find a
competent lawyer, have no ‘Establishment’ connections and/or lack
education.
Monday, 24 August: After ten days in prison I receive my first letter, from
CentreLink, advising me that my age pension has been stopped because of
my being in prison!
175