It would appear from the posted comments after this article that, it is important for Bernie to continue writing about prisons and the injustices of the corrective services system; as we obviously only get the official government version in the news (on most occasions). It is apparent from the posted comments that people who have had little to do with the Department of Corrective services have no idea what really goes on in the system; the corrective services act playing a great part in mantaining the truth from being revealed. People like Col Rouge are very keen to portray Bernie as just some hack with a drum to beat. The gusto of Mr. Rouge's critical comments are quite transparently someone who likes the position of secrecy adopted by the Corrective Services and endorses the status-quo. It is unfortunate that people like Mr. Rouge cannot grasp the fact that by denying prisoners their basic rights as citizens they only embitter them, that failing them as human beings they are perpetuating the cycle of recidivism and, ultimately this sort of treatment will bite Queensland society on the arse. The vast majority of prisoners are released back into society and if we fail to rehabilitate (correct) them, it is society that will ultimately suffer.
We as a society, through our government, are supposed to set an example to those whom we are trying to correct through all actions, so, how can we as a society expect prisoners to behave differently if we fail to lead by example.
Keep up the work Bernie; Bumper

I have only today read this article. While working as a journalist I was contacted by a guard (anonymously) in the Grafton prison who advised me of some trouble brewing. He was advising me, (following some work of mine in which I pointed out some other problems in the town, and he thought I would give it fair coverage) to print an article in an effort to subvert the actions. I printed the first article and the governor of the prison (is that the right term?) contacted my editor and the next articles were axed and I was told to forget it. Of course none of my articles on the prison then were ever printed but I did not forget. This guard seemed to be a decent human being, and his concerns alerted me to some extreme problems. There was to be a strike and a lockdown, in order to bring the public's attention to the conditions (or lack of, should I say). My silencing brought an end to the guards attempts to try to somehow de-brutalise some part of the system. Living with frustration seems to be my lot in life. Thank you Bernie, for the article.