No, not as a prisoner. Before COVID, I visited male prisoners in my counselling job. These days, I continue that work by phone. But going into a prison was a unique experience.

  It was another world. Being scanned when going in and out. Waiting by a door for a guard to escort me to the Education Building. Doing that for about a year before I was trusted enough to get my own security code. The first time I crossed the small courtyard without a guard to get to the Education building, I felt nervous. I was aware of eyes looking at me, noticing I was unguarded. It was OK to be nervous, important to keep up vigilance. But I was basically safe. There was a strict regime in the prison that demanded respect for guards and visitors. A prisoner that broke that protocol could lose privileges, have their hard-won category level rescinded, and be flagged for closer scrutiny. Prisoners that were involved in an “incident” were often moved to other prisons.

  The responses I received from the prisoners I saw were nothing but polite, and often warm and empathetic. The sessions were not mandatory, prisoners had chosen to seek help for the gambling addictions they had experienced prior to prison with a view to getting this under control when they left. I found they really enjoyed having a different person to talk to, and a female was even better. Not that they weren’t used to females. I was surprised at the high number of female guards working at the prison, of all ages.

  So how did this environment lead me to start writing Alice? Well, I was not allowed to take in a computer or a mobile phone. I was only allowed pen and paper for note taking. Appointments happened every half hour and if someone didn’t turn up, I had half an hour to wait. Wandering around the prison was discouraged. You could go and make a cup of tea but that was about it. And if there was a lockdown caused by an “incident” or by someone having an accident or becoming gravely ill, the entire prison ceased movement. Whatever place you were in, you had to stay there until the lockdown was lifted. Generally, lockdowns were short, 10 to 15 minutes, but the timeline was unlimited. You could potentially be in lockdown for hours and I always felt a bit anxious when a lockdown was announced.

  There were many patches of time when I had nothing to do but stare at the pen and paper in front of me. And one day, I wrote the words, “Alice climbed down quickly from Da’s bullock dray and ran the rest of the way home to Green Hills with the prize. Mary Ann was calling, “Wait!” but Alice kept on running to show Ma. Her bare feet barely touched the warm ground, hot past the paddocks, cooler in the eucalyptus shade.”

  And the story of Alice was born.