Intractable Intractable

Intractable

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Publisher Description

Intractable is a relentless and remarkable story of life on the inside of two of Australia's most brutal prison regimes - Grafton and Katingal - in the 70s.

In 1969 Bernie Matthews was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 10 years. A serial escapee, prison authorities soon classified Matthews as an intractable prisoner and he was transferred to the Alcatraz of the NSW prison system at Grafton. There, life was a routine series of bashings and solitary confinement, and as the systematic brutality of Grafton became a political scandal, Matthews and other prisoners found themselves transferred to a fresh hell in 1975 - Katingal Special Security Unit inside Sydney's Long Bay Jail, Australia's first super-max prison.

A concrete bunker with no natural light or fresh air, Katingal replaced Grafton's bashings with sensory deprivation and psychological control. Suicide attempts and self-harm followed. One of the longest serving and surviving Katingal inmates, Matthews did not see daylight for two years, eight months.

Intractable is not only a shocking story of what it's like to do time but also a history of one of the great political scandals of the 70s from a unique perspective (Katingal was pulled down this year). It's also the eye-opening story of a man who managed to turn his life around in the worst of Australia's prisons to become a writer and prison activist.

GENRE
Nonfiction
RELEASED
2007
November 10
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
432
Pages
PUBLISHER
Pan Macmillan Australia
SELLER
Macmillan Publishers Australia and Pan Macmillan Australia
SIZE
950.7
KB
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