KJMPrisonerOldMelbourneGoall

A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f a P r i s o n e r

This is what it would be like to spend a day in the smelly and rotten Old Melbourne Gaol.

I woke up to the sun filtering through the tough metal bars. I stared up at the ceiling, not wanting to face another grueling day. My rough hands touched the cold floor as I moved them to push myself up into a sitting position. I'm starving, I haven't eaten since probably six o'clock last night and that was only bread and water. I've been in this place I don't know how long, but it has to have been over a month. I've now got a beard of a bought three inches and I didn't even have one when I first started my sentence. I'm stiff from sleeping on my thin mattress because it's only filled with a thin layer of straw and there is no pillow so I can rest my badly bruised head. My head is bruised because I have been hitting my head on the wall because of what I did to my little sister. I didn't mean to do it I just did it because I was angry with her and I had had a bit to much of the drink. I am so sorry I wish I never did it, I wish I could turn back time, fix the devil's deeds and escape this horrible place.

Knock knock, "Breakfast is here" the guard yells at my heavy wooden door. I move over to the door to receive my freshly brewed porridge. Clink, goes the flap in the door as the metal bowl is shoved through the hole. I caught it just in time and put onto the small table that is distributed to every cell. I look into the bowl and think to myself, yay, my favourite porridge made from old corn and some hot water. It's not really my favourite but it's the only breakfast we get in this section of the prison and I have to eat to keep my strength up, so when I get out of here I can make things right with my sister.

For the next four hours or so after I had eaten my breakfast, I sat in my cell trying to sleep and pass the time in anyway I could, when my door was finally opened for my one hour of exercise. But before I could go out I had to put on my Calico Hood otherwise I would be punished with either the cat of nine tales or I'd be put in a room smaller than mine for a week maybe two, with only a tiny bit of bread and one cup of water for the entire time I'm in there. Anyways I walked out of my cell keeping my eyes down so I couldn't be recognized by the other prisoners. As I made my way to one of the exercise corridors I saw the feet of another prisoner who was walking in the other direction. I suddenly went cold inside, because walking that direction could only mean one thing, he was walking to the noose. I always feel sorry for those people, because no one deserves to die by someone elses doings. But I must put it out of my mind because it will just make me sad and I am already sad enough. As I entered the corridor, they shut the door behind me and left me there to do my business for the hour. I spent the hour walking up and down the corridor because I wanted to get as much exercise as I could before I was locked in my cell for another 23 hours.

As my time comes to an end I am told to come to the door and wait until it opens and go directly to my cell and keep my eyes below the black line on the wall. I am told this because they do not want me to communicate with other prisoners so I feel isolated and scared.

 Around two minutes later I am back in my same old cell trying to the pass the time any way I can. These ways include trying to sleep, doing push ups and just lying there doing nothing. The time passes at what seems a snails pace and it feels like it's bin days between meals. When finally lunch arrived, it's a stew which consists of 130 grams of both meat and potatoes. The man pushed it through the slit in the door but I wasn't quick enough and it fell to the floor. Spilling all over the ground, as quick as I could I gathered up the bowl but I was too late. The contents of the bowl were everywhere I yelled to the guard to give me another bowl, he came back, but this time he opened the door, and this time he had others with him. They said that I broke the silent rule and would be severely punished for it.

So they grabbed me and hauled me up the two flights of stairs to the table were lashes were given. They said I would be given fifteen lashes for breaking the rule, and I knew this was going to be painful because each lash tears flesh from bone. Crack goes the first lash as it hits my back, I screamed out in pain. Crack, crack, crack went the next three, I can feel the dark red blood trickling down my poor back. For the next thirty seconds I just lied there, on the table silent, listening to the sounds of the whip hitting my back. I tried not to cry but it was just so excruciatingly painful, then suddenly it just stopped, my punishment was over but unfortunately for me the pain was not, because after each punishment they wash your back with salt water to kill the germs so you don't get an infection. This process wasn't as painful as the lashings but it still hurts a tonne. Once they were finished cleaning they picked up my trembling body and tossed it back into my cell.

I just sat there, starring at my wall and into space. I did this for hours because I didn't have anything else to do and my back was just so painful. Dinner arrived as the sun started to go down, so I ate dinner watching the sun disappear. I ate it quickly because I thought the quicker I get some food into myself the quicker I will recover from my punishment. After dinner the excitement of each day finishes because all I'll do is just wait until I fall asleep and then get some much needed rest. I hope tomorrow will finish quickly so I can start the next day and the next so I can finally get out of this horrible, smelly and frightening place.

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his is what it would be like to spend a day in the smelly and rotten Old Melbourne Gaol.