The Fremantle Prison.

Today we set off to explore the Fremantle Prison. This ominous and imposing structure was built in the 1850's by convict labour and was in use up until 1991 when it was decommissioned. We elected to do two tours. The first was a general look at the prison and the conditions the prisoners had to endure while the second tour intrigued us with stories of escape attempts and tales of the various customers that this establishment catered for. Our first tour (Doing Time Tour)  took use through the route and procedures that a new prisoner would experience. All was good until the tour guide picked Nick for a demonstration of the pre-entry search that new prisoners were subjected to. As the guide (??? ex prison guard 6'2 no nonsense ) slipped on a glove and told me to drop my dacks , my response of " not for anything less than $200" was a poor attempt to cover my nervousness. Note to self DO NOT BREAK THE LAW!!! We continue through the wash area where the prisoners had their first and last decent semi-private shower. After that they were lucky to get two showers per week in open shower blocks. Don't drop the soap! We then go through the kitchen where the food was cooked in huge cookers and then onto the exercise yard where the food was eaten, toilet buckets emptied and cleaned, and if you had no job this was where you spent the day. The shelter we stood under was only put there in the 80's as too the doors on the two toilets that served 200 crims. There was only one guard per exercise yard and he was safely locked into a small enclosure to keep him safe. ??? Who is the prisoner???  We then go into Main Block where the prisoners spent the night. We see the suicide netting that was installed after one prisoner took the quick way down from the 4th floor. We learnt how the guards wouldn't walk in the centre area as toilet buckets had a bad habit of being knocked over. We were shown the chapel where the prisoners were able to attend the weekly service. The main wall of the chapel is intricately decorated with the Lord's Prayer and the 10 Commandments. Interestingly as many of the guards were ex soldiers the commandment 'thou shalt not kill' has been reworded as ' thou shalt not do murder'. The prisoner who painted these decorative panels was illiterate and copied the words letter by letter over a period of many months. His sentence was then reduced by the same time it took for him to do this work. We see the progression of cells from their original state through the years to how they were when the prison was closed. We see some of the artwork in the cells. Until a couple of years prior to closure any marking of cell walls was strictly forbidden but due to the impending demolition of the prison this rule was relaxed for some of the inmates. The prison was then heritage listed so these artworks remain. The flogging post was our next stop before heading to the solitary confinement cells. Prisoners who were sentenced to solitary were held in these cells in total isolation for 23 hrs a day. They were let out individually for one hr in a separate exercise yard where their only human contact was with the guard that was assigned to supervise them. There were 12 cells and they were all alike except cell 12 which was closest to the entrance of the solitary block. This cell was for holding prisoners who were to be executed. We walked the short distance from this cell to the gallows where their sentence was carried out. Unlike the drawn out process that is portrayed in the movies, the time taken from leaving the cell to being hung was on average 90 seconds. It was very sobering to see a gallows that had been used to end the life of 43 men and one woman. The noose that was hanging from the heavy beam was not a prop. It was set up for the last man to be hung but not used as his sentence had been reduced to life imprisonment. We had lunch before going on our second tour, the Great Escapes tour. We were taken through different areas of the prison and shown were different escape attempts were made. We saw the entrance to the vast tunnel system that was dug out by the prisoners as part of a water supply system for Fremantle. We saw the cells of Bon Scott, Moondyne Joe, Brendan Abbot, and other previous customers of Freo prison. All in all we had an informative and eye opening experience that reinforces the desire to be a law abiding citizen.