I’ve seen it regress and get a whole lot worse’: Ex-inmate laments Tasmanian prison system

“I still hang out with the people I used to crack safes with. We just don’t crack safes anymore.” A former long-term inmate says Tasmania’s prison system has gone badly downhill since his time behind bars.

Former prisoner Anthony Bull tells a Legislative Council inquiry that Tasmania’s prison system has gone downhill. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A Hobart man who spent more than 20 years in Tasmanian prisons says the system has gotten “a whole lot worse” since he was first locked up in the 1980s.

Anthony Bull was detained at Mangalore’s notorious Wybra Hall from when he was about 9 years old, moving on to what was then the Ashley Home for Boys at Deloraine when he was about 14.

Eventually, he ended up at Risdon Prison – where he became an advocate for prisoner rights.

On Tuesday, Mr Bull gave evidence at a Legislative Council inquiry into Tasmanian adult imprisonment and youth detention – which aims to canvass issues including a rise in incarceration and recidivism.

Mr Bull said while he experienced abuse at both Wybra and Ashley, which “certainly made a massive difference to my life”, he also got the benefit of working in a farm environment at Ashley and learning valuable trades for his life on the outside.

“It was like driving up to a farm environment. There were no walls and no bars and no uniforms. We were in an environment where we interacted with the community, we worked with the farmers, I used to go hay baling, we used to go swimming and to sporting events,” he said.

But when Mr Bull visited a young person at Ashley about five years ago, he was shocked to see wires and bars, with hobbies, trades and sport – “everything shut down”.

“Rather than progressing, I’ve seen it regress and get a whole lot worse,” he said.

“The system doesn’t know how to educate and rehabilitate. You’ve got no better audience than a captive one. There’s no reason a young fella can’t go to prison a criminal and come out a carpenter.”

Mr Bull said he witnessed a prison incident which seemed to be a catalyst for change for the worse, when authorities reacted with a “power and control” response with heavy lockdowns and a move away from rehabilitation.

He said criminals were now far more likely to finish their sentences with a drug addiction or as a member of a gang.

Rob Valentine, Independent member for Hobart, at the Legislative Council inquiry into problems with Tasmania’s prison system. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Mr Bull said by contrast, when he was at Risdon, he and his fellow inmates were able to work in the Risdon Prison fire crew – “one of the best fire crews in Tasmania”, at Incat, in construction, at Mures or at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.

“I still hang out with the people I used to crack safes with. We just don’t crack safes anymore,” he said.

“I can’t imagine myself being the criminal I used to be, now.”

He said while every society needed a jail, there was no reason they shouldn’t be educational facilities.

“Most car thieves make good car mechanics. All you’ve got to do is teach them the skills.

“You’re not only changing that person, but you’re changing the next generation.”

The inquiry continues in Hobart on Wednesday, and will also hear submissions from Bethlehem House, the Salvation Army, academics and magistrates.

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Originally published as I’ve seen it regress and get a whole lot worse’: Ex-inmate laments Tasmanian prison system