Exposed - Peter Severin

Exposed – Peter Severin

It seems successive Governments fail to carry out their due diligence when employing people in top Government positions.

Peter Severin, the second worst Commissioner in the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services, came with baggage. 

It appears that in 2003, Mr. Severin left the Queensland Corrective Services under a huge, dark cloud when it was discovered he was having an affair with an AO2 office worker.  An AO2 public servant is a very low grade indeed and for a person of Mr. Severin’s position, it can only be described as inexcusable behaviour.

If the same behaviour occurred today, there would be major consequences.

The hard working men and women on the front line in the Queensland Prison Service liken Mr. Severin to little more than a joke and were glad to see the back of him. 

Read the following circular that was published and as an invitation to Mr. Severin’s farewell.  It is clear that he was not well liked.

This I believe.
Peter T. Egge

Long Bay

LONG BAY

I was pleased to receive my copy of the newly released book “Long Bay” written by Patrick Kennedy.

It is extremely well written and the production and photographs within are impressive.

It is a complete history of Long Bay Prison dating right back to its conception.  You will recognize some of the names and locations within the book from my eBooks. 

Patrick Kennedy was the son of Ted Kennedy, the chief male nurse at the Long Bay Complex when I commenced working there in May of 1971.  As I only received the book today, I am yet to read it from cover to cover, but a quick scan through reveals four years of hard and precise work by Patrick, ensuring the minutest detail is verified and correct.

If you are interested in genuine prison history, including the people who worked within them, and the prisoners who were incarcerated within the walls, I highly recommend that you obtain a copy of “Long Bay”.  It is a unique, historical manuscript that has never been produced in the same factual manner.

Patrick Kennedy's book is available at www.longbay.net.au.

This I believe.

Peter T Egge

A CONFRONTING EMAIL

A CONFRONTING EMAIL

She said, "I was there"

I always enjoy and appreciate receiving emails.  They come from all sources; retired prison officers from my era, the occasional ex prisoner and people who are related in one way or another to the stories I have written.

Yesterday I received a very welcome, yet confronting email from a young lady who discussed with me the murder of her brother and her Nan by Eric Thomas Turner in 1973.  

She said in her email, ‘I was there the night this evil was perpetrated against my brother John when Turner burst in that night and murdered him and Nan’.

I, like most people, have experienced untold traumatic situations in my life, but I could not begin to comprehend what this lady went through as a young girl.  

To be present when her Nan and her brother were slain must have caused her horrific consequences throughout her entire life.  She has asked that her name and identity remain confidential and said, ‘I could think of nothing worse than 15 minutes of fame’.

The whole tragic event should never have occurred in the first place. Turner was sentenced to hang by the neck until dead in 1948 for a double murder.  

The sentence was commuted to ‘life’ yet he was released on license in August 1970.   In 1973, just 25 years after Turner had cheated the hangman, he again committed another horrific double murder when in fact he should still have been incarcerated within the New South Wales prison system.  He clearly was not suitable for release. 

You can read all about this horrifying story, including how Turner’s life ended, in my latest eBook, Australia’s Best Prison Stories, available through Amazon or this webpage. 

This I believe.

Peter Egge