PARKLEA PRISON OFFICER STABBED

I would have thought by now that the New South Wales Premier, the Minister for Corrective Services and the NSW Parliament in general would be embarrassed by the mismanagement of their prison system. 

I was disturbed to read in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on 28th September 2017, that a young prison officer was stabbed by a 29 year old prisoner.

Mr Peter Severin has learned nothing from the history of Parklea Prison.  It was in 3 Wing in this very prison that I was attacked by prisoner William Booth with a knife on 20th June 1985, some 32 years ago.   Seemingly nothing has changed.   You can read more about this incident in my first eBook, It’s All in the Fall.

There are Occupational Health & Safety laws that all employers, (including Mr Severin of the Department of Corrective Services), are required to strictly abide by, regardless of the perceived dangers in the prison environment.

All prison officers are entitled to go home at the end of their shift in exactly the same condition as when they left home, prior to their shift. 

The Premier has shown no outward signs of support for prison officers who are carrying out a hard, dangerous and thankless job.

Please Premier Berejiklian! It is time to remove Mr Severin and his team of do gooders.  Stop wasting Government funds on unproven schemes in the name of rehabilitation and spend that money more wisely on first time young offenders.

This I  believe
Peter T Egge

A WONDERFUL EMAIL

I received a wonderful email from Leonie Gainge thanking me for my memoir to her Nan, the late Thelma Langford.

Leonie told me that she had Googled her Nan and came across my blog.  She has since downloaded my EBook It’s All in the Fall available on Amazon.

She said, “Your words were beautiful and described Nan to an absolute tee!  Hard as nails with a heart of hold”.

She also gave me some further information concerning our late colleague Thelma Langford.  She passed just one and a half months shy of her 88th birthday.  She was born on 28th April 1929.  She was a mother of two, a grandmother of five, a great-grandmother of 11 and a great-great grandmother of five.

I believe Thelma was extremely lucky to have such a wonderful grand-daughter as Leonie Gainge.  She and her two sisters, Roslyn and Danielle, as well as her mother Alison were with Thelma as she passed.

Thank you Leonie for your heart felt email.  It makes my writing worthwhile and adds a different dimension to the value of writing such stories.

I wish you and your family the very best for the future.


This I believe.

Peter T. Egge

CLYDE PIGGOTT

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Clyde Piggott.

When I started with the Department of Corrective Services in May of 1971, Clyde was a Chief Prison Officer.  He was well respected and was one of those Officers who went about his business with no fuss or bother.

I spoke to Frank (Karate Jack) Hutchen about Clyde’s passing.  Frank told me that Clyde was born in the same month and year as him, in 1932.  Frank went on to say that Clyde had joined the Department prior to him.  They often discussed poultry and ducks in particular.  Clyde later transferred to Glen Innes Prison Camp and set up his own duck farm following his retirement.

Bob Dyson joined the Department in 1966 and Clyde was his Night Senior on his first “B” Watch (midnight to 8am).  You can read about Bob’s experience on this particular shift with Clyde in my latest book Australia’s Best Prison Stories.

Although I did not spend a great deal of time working with Clyde, I had got to know him and him me.  He was always thoughtful and willing to pass on his wisdom and advice.  He will be sadly missed by those of us who knew him.

Peter T Egge

JOHN DAVID HANNAFORD – PENAL SERVITUDE FOR LIFE

John David Hannaford, commonly known as David Hannaford, was 32 years of age and employed as a cleaner in 1972.  He lived with his wife and her 15 month old daughter Victoria Catherine Somers from a previous marriage, in Lawson Street Redfern, an inner city suburb of Sydney NSW.

From all accounts Hannaford had been drinking heavily on 7th December 1972 and what happened next is beyond belief.   Hannaford in a rage of natural rejection from little 15 month old Victoria, began the worst case of child abuse from a step father and part guardian that I have ever heard.

Extracts from the police record of interview tended to the court, Hannaford said, “I wish I was a mercenary.  There is always the smell of dust and blood which I like and I also like to see children, old women and old men being killed”.  He continued on, “I enjoy being a sadist and that when things were not in their correct place I fly into an uncontrollable rage”.

To read more about this despicable excuse of a human being, read my latest eBook Australia’s Best Prison Stories, available on Kindle through Amazon.