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In June 1978 the NSW Wran Government closed
Katingal Special Security Unit. I was transferred from Katingal
to Parramatta Jail and eventually returned to mainstream
prison population after nearly 8 years segregated as an
intractable prisoner.
At Parramatta Jail I became the editor of the prison magazine Contact. The magazine became a significant catalyst for my later career in journalism - a career that intermittently spanned the next two decades.
Attempts to have the prison magazine banned under my editorship resulted from a
December 1978 interview I conducted with James Edward ‘Jockey’ Smith inside Parramatta Jail.
That interview was the precursor to the first prisoner initiated
complaint to The Australian Press Council
concerning the necessity for accurate and truthful reporting of events that occur behind Australian prison walls. The substance of that complaint concerned freedom of speech, censorship and manipulation of the established media by NSW prison officials.
My complaint was validated by The Australian Press Council when it released Adjudication 51 on 29 March 1979: “The Council takes this opportunity of repeating that it is very much alert to the difficulties some disadvantaged groups of citizens face in making their position public, and suggests that the press make special efforts to help them in such cases.”
The International Year of the Child was also commemorated in 1979. It was the same year I observed how incarceration had become Australia's university of crime. I transformed those observations into an article for the prison magazine Contact. That article was later reprinted in
The Prison Struggle - Changing Australia’s Penal System. (Brown, D & Zdenkowsky, G. 1980. The Prison Struggle - Changing Australia’s Penal System. Penguin. Pp. 332-333.
In June 1980 I was released from prison on parole.
From 1985-1991 I lectured on a part-time basis at various universities and secondary schools in Sydney. I also liaised, researched and produced programs and material for the Sydney media. I addressed forums at the 1989 National Conference on Violence and the 1988 Third National Aids Conference. During the same period I also ran a halfway for ex-prisoners (Glebe House) in the Sydney suburb of Glebe.
Between 1986-1990 I ran a weekly three-hour radio program ‘Inside Info’ on Sydney community based radio station 2RSR-FM situated inside Sydney University where I worked extensively with Tony Collins, a Current Affairs Producer for Triple J. I was later nominated to The Board of Directors of the radio station.
During my wrongful imprisonment in Queensland in 1991 I wrote an
award winning radio play for 4ZZZ
and commenced a Freelance Journalist course that I successfully completed after my release.
Between 1992-1995 I had numerous feature articles published in The Gold Coast Bulletin, The Courier Mail and The Sydney Sun Herald with the help and assistance of Walkley Award winning journalist David Halpin.
In November 1993 I became the first Australian ex-prisoner to be admitted into the Australian Journalist Association section of the MEAA (Queensland Branch) without having any tertiary qualifications or conventional work experience in journalism.
My admission into the AJA was based solely upon my published work and my work in the field of journalism 1978-1993.
In 2004 I wrote three feature articles that were short-listed for the Queensland Media Awards that year. It was a humbling experience on October 8, 2004 to win two of those awards and become the first ex-prisoner/journalist to be accorded that distinction in Australian journalism.
The awards received were for;
1) Most
Outstanding Journalism Student – All Media.
2) Best
Online/News Wire Report – Electronic Media.
My pursuit of a journalism career would not have attained that distinction without a number of journalists who have advised and guided my career pursuit on both sides of the prison walls. I am fortunate to have known and received guidance from those members of the journalism profession whom I have regarded as my mentors.
Donna Chisholm was a young reporter with New Zealand’s Auckland Star when I began corresponding with her from Katingal during the 1970s.
Donna ignited my first interests in journalism.
Jeff Hughes, Phillip Jack, Gail Austin, Michelle Schofield and Nick Franklin also had a guiding influence when they ran the Prisoners Program from the old 2JJ building in William Street Kings Cross during the late 1970s.
At Parramatta Jail I met Ann Summers, a respected journalist with the now defunct National Times, who gave me my first journalism assignment to write a book review during 1978.
After I was released from prison ABC Current Affairs producer, Tony Collins, introduced me to radio journalism when he organised a satellite link-up between the Sydney ABC and Jimmy Boyle in the London BBC. Boyle, who had been classified as one of Scotland’s most violent prisoners, had been the motivating factor for Britain’s creation of a new concept in the treatment of violent offenders at Barlinnie. It was a concept that restored dignity and self worth to the prisoner. Although Boyle and I had never met we both had a lot in common, having served time in some of the hardest jails in our respective countries, and the subsequent interview was radio journalism at its best.
When I became involved with community radio at 2RSR (Radio Skid Row) in the Wentworth Building at Sydney University during the 1980s it was Tony Collins who helped me iron out the flaws and during the process we became friends as well as colleagues in my pursuit of a journalism career.
Tony's recommendations
are appreciated.
David Halpin was a Walkley Award winning journalist who had significant impact on my journalism focus. I met David after a Brisbane Supreme Court judge had ordered my release from prison in October 1991 and he interviewed me about my wrongful imprisonment and the reasons behind the frame up. With firebrand tenacity David took on my case in a series of articles that were trenchantly critical of the NSW and Queensland justice systems. At the time David was working at the Gold Coast Bulletin where he also opened the door for some of my work to be published. It was another significant step on the road to my journalism career because it was the first time I had been published as a feature writer.
David Halpin was the true essence of a journalist. He knew no fear and was always ready to lend a helping hand. His advice was a valuable commodity in the world of journalism. In 1993 I lost a valuable mentor and friend when David died at his home in the Gold Coast hinterland.
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Hope you enjoy!
Bernie Matthews
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