Behind the Walls

Would you be willing to inspect the house of a convicted criminal? Have a one-on-one conversation with a parolee about their past trauma?

In the sixth and final episode of Behind the Walls: Parole, crime author and former journalist Michael Duffy meets parole officers including Grace Wong, who has one of the most challenging jobs in corrections.

“We do get a lot of clients who walk through the door with histories of childhood trauma, sexual abuse, exposure to violence at an early age and domestic violence,” Grace says.

“I think a lot of the trauma that clients go through and their abuse history contributes to the reasons why they end up in our system. There are some really sad stories that walk through the door.”

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A prison officer reveals how an inmate saved his life from a brutal bashing by a criminal gang.

In the fifth episode of Behind the Walls: The Blue and the Green, crime journalist and former author Michael Duffy talks to Long Bay’s Paul Coyne about the often surprising interactions between officers and inmates.

“Mutual respect between inmates and officers is really important and I honestly believe that it pretty much saved my life,” Paul says.

“I was being assaulted at Long Bay when an inmate heard it happening, so he stuck his head out and called for help to my colleagues.

“Then he came flying up and belted one of the inmates so hard I thought he had killed him – he went down like a sack of potatoes – and then he turned to the other two and said, ‘Don’t you ever lay a hand on Mr Coyne again’.”

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A prison governor becomes good mates with a former inmate and even gives a speech at his wedding.

In the fourth episode of Behind the Walls: Rehabilitation, crime author and former journalist Michael Duffy talks to former inmate Damian Cuff about the friendship he has formed with Governor Mark Kennedy.

Damian spent 19 years in-and-out of prison for a range of crimes including armed robbery, kidnapping and drug use.

“Normally blokes get out and they go back to the same area, the same people that they always hung with and got in trouble with,” Damian says.

“I was given an opportunity before I got out here. I did works release and I still work for that company now - they offered me a position if I was willing to stay in Bathurst and what better opportunity than to start fresh.

“I’m still mates with Kenno (Mark) because Kenno, he knew about me, but he didn’t want to make me feel like I was a criminal, or I was different. I was just one of the boys playing football.”

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If you treat inmates like animals, they’ll act like animals. What happens when they get out of jail? Would you want them living in your suburb?

In the third episode of Behind the Walls: Daily Life, crime author and former journalist Michael Duffy learns how inmates – and staff – spend a typical day at prisons including Cessnock, Dawn de Loas and Bathurst correctional centres.

Macquarie Correctional Centre prison officer Liz Sears tells Michael:

“Essentially our job as a prison officer is to make our community safer, and in order to do that we need to give these inmates as much chance as possible to re-enter society and be safe, because they will be living next door to us.

“We are not giving them any more than what they deserve or any more than anyone else on the outside deserves, we are just giving our community as a whole, the chance to be safe.”

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Would you believe that some inmates actually ask to be sent to Australia’s toughest and most regimented prison, Supermax?

In the second episode of Behind the Walls: Security, crime author and former journalist Michael Duffy learns about prison-yard hierarchies and how to stop inmates from attacking each other.

“There’s no doubt that security is the core function of a prison, but security means much more than just locking people up and watching them from towers so they don’t escape,” Michael says.

“It means keeping inmates from attacking each other, or rioting, or attacking our officers or prison property.

“That means our officers need to know what’s going on among the inmate population. To do that, they have to walk among the inmates, talk to them, gather and respond to intelligence.”

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Meet the prison officers who manage Australia’s worst criminals and you’ll soon learn why they hate being called ‘guards’.

In this first episode of Behind the Walls: The Job, crime author and former journalist Michael Duffy takes listeners inside Bathurst, Wellington and Lithgow correctional centres to hear from officers about what it’s really like to work inside NSW prisons.

Michael spent six months recording the series at 11 correctional centres and four Community Corrections offices.

“I was a court reporter for years but I had no idea what happened to convicted offenders when they were taken off to prison – like many people, I was just glad it was someone else’s job to look after them,” he says.

“Also, like many people, I thought prison was just about locks and security. For this podcast, I’ve gone to talk with real prison officers and discovered that their jobs – and they themselves – are about much more than that.”

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Listen in to the trailer for Behind the Walls, a ground-breaking six-part podcast series that for the first time takes listeners on a journey into NSW prisons and parole offices.

The six-part series will launch on Sunday 14 March with new episodes dropping every Thursday.

Podcast host Michael Duffy, a crime author and former journalist, spent six months recording the interviews at 11 correctional centres and four Community Corrections offices, where staff manage offenders on community orders.