Yeah, my name's Daniel van Setton. I spent twelve years, almost twelve years in prison. It's like groundhog Day. Generally speaking, you'd get a wake up call at about seven point thirty to stand outside your cell, and then you might start work at about eight thirty or nine o'clock. If you're working in the prison. You'd be returned back to
the unit at about lunchtime. For lunch. You may return back to your workplace about one o'clock to about three point thirty in the afternoon, and then you'd be sent back to your unit or your cell. And depending on what prison you're in, you could have lockdown as early as three point thirty to four o'clock, or if you're in a more privileged prison, lockdown might be at eight
o'clock that night. One of the issues in prison is the chronic boredom and lack of meaningful activities to do in prison, and that has a detriment of to rehabilitation.
Part of that period that Daniels locked away for was during COVID that amplified the feeling of boredom, but not only that, it was next to impossible to find out information about what was happening across the prison system. Prisoners were locked down for weeks with limited access to news.
You know, the level of uncertainty was just unbelievable. Some people thought that we were going to get out of prison early because of it, and some people thought that we might die in prison because of the COVID and there was a period of time where we were even struggling to get food. The prison authorities generally like to keep information close to themselves about issues that might affect the administration of the prison, so there was yeah, really no information given to us.
That lack of information also spread to other aspects of the prison system, really important expects to do for getting released.
Another thing that was cut off was rehabilitation courses, and these courses are significant because you won't get parole unless the rehabilitation course is completed, and these courses go for around six months each course. The whole course system was
shut down. Another significant issue actually which affected me was I was due to see the Parole Board and the South Australian Parole Board closed and we had no information about how long that would be for when it would reopen, what the plan was to deal with that, So that actually delayed my parole. In the end by two years.
Daniel was now out. He was released in twenty twenty two, but when he heard about the idea of a national newspaper for prisoners by prisoners, he jumped at the opportunity to be involved. From sports media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM. The incarceration system in Australia can be an information black hole. About Time is a national paper trying to directify that the free paper is available to approximately twenty one thousand prisoners in Tasmania, Victoria, the New
South Wales and the Act. It's tailored to prison life and hopes to get information in and out of prisons and create a community among incarcerated people today. A contributor to About Time Daniel Van Setten and the paper's managing director Rosie Hasliv on giving prisoners a voice and the empathy that they hope comes from that. It's Friday, September thirteenth. Rosie. Can we start off by giving you introduce yourself for who you are and what you do.
Thank you.
My name is Rosi Lev and I'm the managing director at About Time.
Rosie. Can you take us to the moment when the idea to start a newspaper about prisons and prisoners came to you.
Yeah, it started around twenty twenty one. I was working as a human rights administrative law lawyer in Community Law, a Fitzroy Legal service, and we ran an advice line for people in prison and I was speaking to people inside nearly every day and I was sensing a real frustration on the lack of information people were getting and the lack of ability to express themselves as well. So people in prison are very fragmented, it isolated from issues
that really affect them. And around this time I received an email from Now co founder Joe Friedman who said, Hey, I've just listened to a podcast about a newspaper in the UK called Inside Time, and it's a prison based newspaper. It's been around since the nineties. Is there something like that in Australia? And I said no, not to my knowledge, but we really need one, so that's why we wanted
to create a newspaper. There is also an element of the paper which is a platform for people to write and to hear about other people and how they have processed through prison and outside into the community. Really gained a sense of hope that this is just a moment
in time, and imprisonment is not forever. Ultimately, we want this paper to be fully autonomous and run by people who had lived experience of imprisonment, so that people can have a sense of dignity and control over their lives and to provide a platform where you can express yourself your stories, but listen to other people's stories.
That is what we want to do.
So how long did it take from the inception of the idea to actually getting it up and happening.
So we started in twenty twenty one and it took a long time and a lot of work to get to the launch of the paper in July this year and a big hurdle that we've had is to get approval from corrections departments to get the paper inside. And we finally at a point where you know, we have Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania Act and coming on from the ex edition and the edition following will be South Australia
and Queensland. So I think it's just a lesson if you want to do something, you have time and resources, don't give up.
Can you take us back to the time when the first edition was about to be printed and published. What was it like the day of the publishing of that first edition.
It was a very exciting day.
We hadn't slept for a few days, just anticipating a response. I think the thing with this is our main audience as people in prison, so it's very hard to know initially what the response is. But after a few days getting messages on emails and Facebook from family members saying we've been really dying to hear and get something like this, and thank you, I think that that was the most important thing for us.
Have you gotten any specific feedback about the impact about time has had.
Yeah, if you'll indulge me, I would like to read a section from a letter we received, And this is from Joe, who wrote from Metropolitan Romand Center in Victoria, and he says, I right to extend feedback about your monthly paper. I must say it was with more than the usual measuring spoon of interest that most here at
mc welcomed its arrival. Upon finding it in our respective mailboxes, it caused a stir, a tad like the discovery of gold in ballarat, a buzz some leaf the pages quietly absorbed, some flock together, applauding the contents a small tidy group of indigenous fellas loudly and proudly celebrated inclusion of the artwork of a dear friend of mine, Chris in short conversation thrived the overall reaction across the board favorable. At age fifty four, I was a first time at prison.
An enormity of life experiences meant I'm able to assist peers here in various ways. Principally, though, I guide their journey to accept that they are more, much more than their crime a transgression. The will to change begins with the humblest of realizations.
Like dropping certain habits.
Hence, I summarize that moving away from healthy habits prompts a kind of reboot, a reset to those originally God gifted settings we were born with prior to nibbling or gorging the poisoned apple. To wrap it up, your monthly publication offers us not only hope and solidarity, but a sense of dignity, and that is something that some.
Have never experienced.
Hearing that and knowing that some dignity is being given like that is we know we're doing the right thing.
After the break. How two way empathy is the goal of About Time. Rosie. You said that you first discussed the idea of About Time when there was nothing else like it in Australia from a national perspective, but there were prison newspapers in isolation before that. What were those newspapers like and how did they inform your process in establishing About.
Timeh Absolutely, the national element of our paper is unique, but prison newsletters in prison media is definitely not. There is an article about the history of prison newspapers and the current edition of About Time written by Damian Lanane who's doing his PhD on this topic actually, and he has found eighty different newsletters over nine hundred editions, with the earliest one he found from nineteen twelve, so we're definitely.
Not the first.
And there are other publications available at the moment, like Paper Trained, which is actually edited by Damian Lenane.
It's an art journal. So the idea is not novel.
It's about being informed by what's gone before us and creating something that is a bit unique, which is getting a national sense, because the national element is really important to us to provide a cohesion, a solidarity against the real fragmented nature of prisons.
About Time is as much about prisoner reform, prisoner welfare. But there's also an aspect to it if you were to read it as a member of the general public. The actual quality of what is being written is very high. What's the process to get that type of quality of content in the paper?
The submissions we're receiving of high quality, and it's just to show that people in prison are very talented and have a really strong voice. Also, we've gotten volunteer journalists that are very invested and interested in criminal justice reform and are committed to this project. We've gotten psychologists and therapists that are writing real quality advice and information for people. So it's a real community effort. But for readers in
the public, it's a great read. If society views people in prison as people, then the response can create change can be rarely generative, you know, policy change that can flow from that, and prospects of reintegration into the community, different types of investments. This is all what we foresee that can happen once we humanize a criminalized population, and it's about creating a society that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and human rights.
Rosie, thank you for your time.
Thank you very much for having me.
So, Daniel, tell me about your experience writing for About Time. What did you write about?
I actually shared just a personal experience in about eight hundred words of my journey through prison, how I went through to be interested in law and then make the transition to study law on the outside. I enjoy sharing my experience and I hope that by producing articles for the paper, it inspires people to get involved as well.
People can share hardships or share how they've overcome hardships in prison, and I think it's important that people in prison maintain that sense of community, definitely because they're going to be released one day. And there's also an issue with I guess, self esteem and self worth in prison. So if you are able to get a piece published in a newspaper, brings about a sense of self worth and pride to see your piece published in the paper. A unique thing about this paper is that it's available
to the community. The papers published online, and I think this is really important to help reduce the stigmatization that is often caused by mainstream media who when they speak about people in prison, they're generally speaking about the crime they committed or the offense they committed and we don't hear about the positive things that people do in prison.
So having this paper available to the community will help, I guess, reduce the fear and stigmatization, allow people to see some of the positive things that people are doing in prison, to rehabilitate themselves, and to give these people more of a a humanistic character, I guess, which will help the process of reintegration when people are released into the community.
Daniel, thank you for your time.
Thank you, Daniel.
Also in the news today, up to nine Australian commanders who served in the Afghan War have been stripped of their awards, finalizing the government's response to the Brarit inquiry into alleged war crimes. Defense Minister Richard Marles has sent letters to the relevant senior soldiers informing them of his decision, but has not revealed how many have been affected or
their identities. And the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency and rah says six of its staff have been killed in two air strikes on a school in Gaza, marking what it says is the highest death toll amongst its staff in a single incident. The Garza government media officers, the Israeli strike killed at least twelve others. Seven Am is a daily show from Schwartz Media and the Saturday Paper. Is produced by Shane Anderson, Zoltnfetio, and Zia Tangleral. Our technical
producer is Anigus Basto. We're edited by Chris Danegate and Sarah McPhee. Eric Jensen is our editor in chief. Our mixer is Traviser Evans. Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envaloe Bortio. Seven Am is hosted by Ruby Jones and myself, Daniel James. See you next week.