Visit to Casuarina Prison...Not What I expected

After slogging till 3am to complete my assignment, I slept till 7am where I got up to print my assignment in school and submit it. With only 4 hours of sleep and full of crap (from the lack of sleep), I went down south to Casuarina Prison.

This visit is during my easter break and is a part of the curriculum for one of my units at uni. I'll skip to the interesting part now... I expected grey, drab walls in this maximum security prison, much like what Changi Prison in Singapore and Auckland Prison in New Zealand has. I also expected the prisons to all have that similar layout and feel to it. But the place was a freakin holiday resort! Lush well tended lawns with a wide assortment of flora, interspersed with pine trees. Within the prison compound, the prison was divided into blocks... kinda like what BMTC was like on Pulau Tekong. The blocks were painted a creamy beige colour as well, much like BMTC. Previously, travel between the blocks was relatively free and easy, but a riot several years made the prison management rethink it's security issues. Now each block is surrounded by a high fence. Oh, and during the riot, most of the pool tables in the prison blocks got smashed. Yes... they got to play pool!

Now on to the individual prison cells. According to the nice guard that was the "tour guide", Casuarina Prison is strict as it's the only prison in Australia to not provide television to each of the prison cells, and that the prisoners get to have a 2 week grace period to inform their families to supply them with their own tv. Each inmate is allowed to bring a maximum of 3 electronic devices into their cells, as well as an alarm clock and fan. So most of the cells have television, a Hi-Fi, as well as a game console such as a Playstation 2 or a personal computer. Modems are not allowed, so no PS3 or computers with internal modems.

Other facilities include a workshop, hospital, educational area, chapel, library, and Canteen. My accessment of the place is that the inmates there definitely have a better quality of life than the recruits in BMTC. I wouldn't mind staying for a while, but not for years as the lack of visual candy would drive me nuts. : p