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James Phelps

Australia's Most Murderous Prison - Behind the Walls of Goulburn Jail

An unprecedented spate of murders in the 1990s – seven in just three yearsearned Goulburn Jail the ominous name of ‘The Killing Fields’. Inmates who were sentenced or transferred to the 130-year-old towering sandstone menace declared they had been given a death sentence.

Gang alliances, power plays, contracted hits, the ice trade, the colour of your skin – even mistaken identity – any number of things could seal your fate.

The worst race war in the history of Australian prisons saw several groups – Aboriginal, Lebanese, Asian, Islander and Anglo – wage a vicious and uncontrollable battle for power. Every day there were stabbings. Every day there were bashings. And then there was murder

A controversial policy known as ‘racial clustering’ might have put an end to The Killing Fields, but soon something far scarier would arise, something called Supermax . . . Within the stark white walls, clinical halls and solitary confinement, it is where Australia’s most evil men are locked away. It is home to serial killer Ivan Milat; the ‘Terror Five’, militants who plotted attacks across Sydney in 2005; Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy and gang rapist Bilal Skaf, to name a few.

Murderers, terrorists, serial killers, gangsters and rapists – soon you will meet them all inside Australia’s most murderous prison.

Australia's Toughest Prisons: Inmates

These are the stories about Australia's hardest inmates, from Australia's hardest inmates: 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.
'Leave me alone,' he screams.
He then runs to the corner of the yard where he crouches, cowers, and calls for help like the coward he is.

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. 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 inAustralia's Toughest Prisons: Inmates.

You will hear from the inmate who almost escaped from Silverwater Jail in a stolen helicopter, from the rugby league player who almost became a drug mule, from the bikie boss who ran a million-dollar jail drug trade, from the founding Brothers 4 Life members on how the violent gang ran a crime empire from within jail and from the men that watched Carl Williams beaten to death inside Victoria's most secure jail.

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.

Award-winning author and journalist James Phelps reveals the horror of life inside Australia’s most notorious jails including Grafton, Pentridge, Minda, Risdon, Silverwater, Bathurst and Lithgow.

Ever wondered what life is like for our Aussie jailbirds? Is it as bad as Wentworth or Orange is the New Black? No. It’s worse.

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 Butterfield: 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.

Australia's Hardest Prison: Inside the Walls of Long Bay Jail

Welcome to Long Bay, Australia's hardest prison. For the first time, guards and inmates of the notorious South Sydney facility reveal what really goes on behind its towering concrete walls.

Opened in 1909 Long Bay Jail, originally a women's reformatory, has a dark and extraordinary history.

From ghosts to legendary prisoners, there has been an infamous collection of Long Bay 'guests', including the formidable Neddy Smith, convicted rapists the Skaf brothers and shamed entrepreneur Rene Rivkin.

Former inmates Rodney Adler, Graham 'Abo' Henry, Tom Domican, John Elias and others tell all about the brutal reality of life behind bars. And 'Mr Big' Ian Hall Saxon finally comes clean about his prison escape, which baffled the nation.

Delve into the personal accounts of the prison guards, Long Bay's unsung heroes, as they open up about their experiences dealing with some of the most dangerous men in the country.

 

 

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