Good News

Cutting the Bars - Volume 3 should be ready for release some time over the next few weeks.   It is full of exciting, true stories involving real Prison Officers and real criminals.   You will be able to read the true backgrounds behind each one.   There are some great photographs and also great sketches by the very talented Robert A. Wood.

I believe this to be my best book yet, but unfortunately it will be my last based on the New South Wales Prison system in the 1970's and 1980's.

If you haven't caught up with Volumes 1 and 2 of Cutting the Bars, may I suggest that you download a copy to read prior to the release of Volume 3.

Hope everyone enjoys them.
Peter T Egge

RIOT IN THE CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL PRISON, LONG BAY, ON 23RD AUGUST 1978

On 23rd August 1978, Stan Morgan was the Acting Superintendent in the Central Industrial Prison at Long Bay Gaol.   It is fair to say that he was an old man nearing retirement.  He lacked general duties experience having spent most of his career driving trucks for the stores at Parramatta Gaol.

The executive staff received information that the prisoners were going to riot.   Frank (Karate Jack) Hutchen was Deputy Superintendent and had organised the implementation of an evacuation plan, should this occur.

When the prisoners began to riot, Mr. Morgan hesitated when it came to making decisions and failed to take corrective action, preferring to wait for the Commission, Dr. Tony Vincent, to arrive in order to take control.

In doing so Mr. Morgan began to show signs of experiencing a heart attack to which Mr. Hutchen suggested he go home, leaving him to take control.

Read my book "Cutting the Bars - Volume 1" to find out the dramatic ending to this story.

EXTRACT FROM MY BOOK

“IT’S ALL IN THE FALL”

THE MORGUE – GRUESOME TRAINING

It fell to me to take the trainees to the Morgue and the Coroner’s Court every four weeks. I always enjoyed the outing as I continually learned so much about the human body and I always found it educational and fascinating. The professor would carry out an autopsy and give a running commentary as he proceeded with his necessary work. I had come to know him quite well and sometimes, to break the tension, he would say, “Mr Egge, would you like to carry out the autopsy today? “You know as much as I do now”.  I would just smile and say “No thank you Professor, I’m not suitably dressed for it today”.  All the students would look at me quizzically, not knowing whether I could actually perform an autopsy or not.

It was a great idea to take the young Officers to the morgue.  All Prison Officers have to deal with deaths in custody sooner or later during their career. I found it amazing the number of people that have never seen a dead body.  I know that up until I joined the Department of Corrective Services I too had never seen a deceased person. I was always pleased to see that all bodies in the morgue were treated with the utmost respect.

PETER TURTON - JP

Mr Turton applied to become a Justice of the Peace. He had to be sworn in so I arranged to have the Coroner swear him in.  Mr Turton came in the bus with the trainees and me.  We observed an autopsy first.  During the autopsy the professor was showing us that the lady had died from pneumonia and squeezed some puss out of the ladies lungs which landed in Mr Turton’s eye.  Everyone was scrambling to help Mr Turton however I could hardly stand up with laughter.

I took the class and Mr Turton into the Coroner’s Court. The Coroner gave a great speech saying his job was always about death and sadness and what a good change for him to swear Mr Turton in as a Justice of the Peace. The Coroner asked every person in the court to be up standing as Mr Turton took the oath.  All my trainees stood to attention with their caps under their arm, it was simply brilliant.

I LOVED A GOOD JOKE

At lunch time two trainee Officers came into my office and said, “We heard you like a good joke Mr Egge”. I replied “Well that depends”. They continued on, “We have a piece of liver from the cafeteria and we are going to put it under an Officer’s hat, could you say they are missing some body parts from the morgue?” I loved this idea as they told me who the Officer was and where he was sitting”.

After lunch I walked into the class room with my war face on and said, “I have just received a phone call from the Morgue and it appears that somebody from this room has stolen body parts.  “Whoever it is please step forward now”.v Naturally there was no reply. I raised my voice and said, “Be a man step forward now and all that will happen to you is you will get the sack, if you don’t step forward now I will call the Police and you will be charged and sent to gaol where you will be fucked by ten men every day.

By now I was really playing the part.  As expected no one had stepped forward so I began to look around the class room for evidence, turning their hats over as I walked around.  As I came to the Officer concerned, I flipped his hat over and said “What’s this?” The look on the Officer’s face was priceless.  He was so shocked he simply couldn’t speak.  He thought he was getting the sack and going to gaol all in one fowl swoop. I couldn’t in all conscience keep the poor beggar holding on for long.

EMAILS:

“CUTTING THE BARS – VOLUME 2”

I am beginning to receive emails with feedback in regards to Cutting the Bars – Volume 2.   Although it has only been available for a short time, the feedback so far is very positive.   I would like to share with you one in particular from a young lady who has emailed me previously in regards to my first book, “It’s all in the Fall”.


Hello Peter,

I just wanted to drop you a quick email to say how much I enjoyed your last 2 books. Very insightful and at the same time disturbing.


I strongly think that everyone should read these books so that people can get their heads out of the sand in regards to the evil that some people are. I certainly encourage people to read your books.


I don't see how people in jail really have room for complaint, if you didn't break the law you wouldn't be there.. it is quite a simple lesson that seems to allude many people!


Anyway – thank you again for your time in putting these together and I look forward to the next in 2016.

Thank you for all the emails I have received.   I do reply to each of them personally.    Feel free to email me at   petertegge@gmail.com


Peter Egge

CRUMP AND BAKER – AUSTRALIAS WORST THRILL KILLERS

EXTRACT FROM MY BOOK 

“CUTTING THE BARS – VOLUME 2”

My Brother’s Story
I was discussing this case with my brother Phillip recently, when he told me this little story concerning Kevin Gary Crump and Allan Baker.

Laurie Rawlings was the Night Senior on the “C” watch, (afternoon shift), in the Metropolitan Reception Prison (MRP), after Crump and Baker had been arrested and were attending trial.    Mr Rawlings was a really nice bloke, always smiling and loved a bit of fun and Gaol gossip, as did I.   He was one of the real characters of the Long Bay prison complex and a Night Senior with whom most of the prison officers enjoyed working.   He was a down to earth, all round very decent type of bloke.

My brother Phillip was relatively new to the job and was working on the circle with the “heavy”, whose name he could not recall, however for the sake of the story we will call him Mr Neville, (just a classic case of seeing the face but can’t remember the name).  Crump and Baker had returned from court and were escorted back to 9 Wing where they were to pick up their meal and be locked in their cell for the night.   In the early 1970’s, 9 Wing was strictly for “protection prisoners” and “non associates”, a terminology used mainly for transsexuals.   Crump and Baker’s meals had already been saturated with spit from the wing sweepers which was a common occurrence for prisoners who had committed heinous crimes against women or children, most especially child sex offenders who were commonly referred to as “rock spiders”.   Before the meals could be issued, Mr Rawlings said, “These meals are too hot for these prisoners”, and promptly picked them up and put them out in the rain for a few minutes.

Crump and Baker were handed their meals and placed in their cells.  Mr Neville and my brother Phillip went to the cell where Mr Neville ordered Crump and Baker to, “Get up and face the back wall”.   Phillip told me, “Mr Neville spat on Crump and Baker and so did I.   “As we walked out of the wing, Mr Neville turned to me and said ‘I’ve never spat on a man before in my life’.   Phillip replied to Mr Neville, “Neither have I, so don’t worry about it”.

You may well be entitled to ask what would make three normally very decent men do what they did to these two prisoners, risking the chance of disciplinary action being taken against them.   Had they done the same in today’s prison system, their actions would most certainly result in instant dismissal.

This type of behaviour from officers and prisoners alike towards Crump and Baker was not an isolated incident, remembering it was the early 1970’s.   Although I do not condone what these three officers did, or any others who may have carried out similar actions, I fully understand their motivation.  Kevin Crump and Allan Baker committed the worst crimes against a human being that I have ever heard of, and I believe the most insidious crimes ever carried out in Australian history.  These two men must be kept in the highest security conditions the state of New South Wales can offer, and never be release from gaol, regardless of any circumstances that may arise in the future.  They must die in prison and should be buried face down, in an unmarked grave.

To find out the entire confronting story of these two “butchers”, who in my mind committed Australia’s worst crime against another human being in the country’s criminal history, read pages 19 to 29 of “Cutting the Bars – Volume 2”.

EXTRACT FROM “CUTTING THE BARS – VOLUME 2”

THE TALL MAN

I was one of the shortest prison officers in stature when I joined the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services in May 1971, standing at only five foot eight and a half inches, as people were measured back during that time.   I was only in the job a few weeks when I first saw Robert (Bob) Dyson.   I remember thinking to myself, ‘he has to be the tallest man in the world’.

Mr Dyson looked impressive in his uniform.  He was a First Class Prison Officer wearing two stripes on the right sleeve of his dark navy blue, almost black tunic.   He stood so straight I was mesmerised, and I did not dare speak to him because he was a First Class Prison Officer and I was just a lowly “baggy arse”, the ink hadn’t dried on my papers yet as I was often reminded in those early days.

Mr Dyson was born in 1940 at Marrickville in Sydney NSW, just one year into the Second World War.   My Dad, Leonard Egge, was brought up in the suburb of Enmore being in the same area of Marrickville.   Mr Dyson, like most prison officers of that time, had a public school education and left school very close to his fifteenth birthday.   Luck was on his side when he gained an apprenticeship with the Maritime Service Board and became a qualified carpenter and joiner.   He was also a member of the Civilian Military Force (CMF), and served in the 14th Field R.A.A. 2nd Division Provost Corp.

He became a Probationary Prison Officer on 4th February 1966 and graduated in February 1967.  In those days it was just two weeks training under the guidance of senior prison officer Lou Boyd, after which was a case of, “here are your keys, now do your best”.


“Dougal” and 10 Post Tom
On his first set of “B” watches Mr Dyson’s night senior was Senior Prison Officer Clyde Piggott, a man of considerable experience.  There was an old mongrel dog that wondered around the Long Bay prison complex named “Dougal”.  There was nothing special about him, just an old dog that was left to his own devices.   Dougal had free run of the gaol and would come and go as he pleased, in and out of gates and doorways, many of which needed to be opened for him by prison officers.  I imagine he was fed, loved and tolerated by everybody, officers and crims alike.

There were also a large number of cats roaming around especially at night hunting the giant rats that inhabited the drainage system of the prison complex, often said to be as big as a German Sheppard dog.  One old cat was appropriately named “10 post Tom”.  Unbeknown to Mr Dyson, old Dougal was lying behind him when 10 post Tom decided to go for a walk at 0200 hours in the morning.   Without warning and in the still of the night, Dougal leapt to his feet and started to bark.  Mr Dyson, not being used to the prison environment, jumped so high he nearly went over the 30 foot high brick wall.   When his feet finally hit the ground he had to check his underpants to see if he’d had an accident in them.  Only his good wife Liz would know the real answer to that when she did his washing.

RELEASE OF MY NEW BOOK "CUTTING THE BARS - VOLUME 2

I am pleased to announce my new book "Cutting the Bars - Volume 2", is now available through my website, or through Amazon.


There are some great true stories depicting some lighthearted incidents that occurred during my service, as well as some of a more serious nature.   You will also read about a number of Prison Officers who are real characters that I have not written about previously as well as some officer's names you may be familiar with from my previous books, as well as some very dangerous criminals, the likes of which all Prison Officers have to deal with on a daily basis.  


I am sure you will enjoy the photographs and especially the sketches drawn by my good friend and life time mate, Bob Wood.  


I look forward to receiving your feedback via email, should you wish to.


Peter T Egge


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