A Murderous Time at Her Majesty’s Gaol Parramatta

Looking back over Mr Kay’s career, by the end of November 1979 he had completed his training course under the guidance of Principal Prison Officer Harry Fieldhouse, and was initially placed at Her Majesty’s Gaol Parramatta as a Probationary Prison Officer.   Right from the get go it appeared to the young Probationary Prison Officer Michael Kay that he was working in a mad house. There was one critical incident after another in the four years he was working at Parramatta Gaol, in fact there were seven murders that occurred at Parramatta Gaol during that time, in addition to other deaths in custody, plus a major riot.  

Mr Kay seemed to be caught up in all of the seven murders in one way or another, some to a lesser degree than others, however to be involved in seven murders, regardless of the fact that he was working in an occupation where it was not uncommon for such tragic episodes to occur, there were so many, that the intricate details of each murder became blurred between one and the next.  Even given the environment in which he was working, it was a substantial series of horrific incidents for such a young officer to deal with. I would compare it to the equivalent of a highway patrol policeman attending fatal car accidents where they just seem to keep occurring without any respite for the police officers’ attending who having to deal with the continual trauma of witnessing regular carnage and death.

Mr Kay told me, “I remember one, I cannot remember his name, but I remember his face and the blood.  I was in the cell with two ambulance officers who were working on the inmate.  Blood seemed to be coming from numerous holes all over him; they put a set of blow up trousers on him to try to force some blood back to where it was needed most.  Arthur Barton was the Superintendent at the time”.(Mr Barton was a tallish man with red hair and very fair completion).“He had a stutter problem; he stood at the door and looked at all the blood, and obviously thinking, ‘not another one’, as this was about murder number six or seven, he said, and I remember it as if it was yesterday, stuttering, ‘I hope he doesn’t ffffffffffffucking die!’Clearly he was thinking he was going to have to do more reports.  I looked up at him and thought to myself, ‘sorry sir, but he is already dead’. The inmate had his eyes rolled back in his head and had the death shakes, blood was nearly the thickness of the soles of my shoes all over the floor.  I will never forget it.  Clearly he was never going to make it.    Next the prison doctor arrived, Dr Mutton. The ambulance officers looked up as if expecting some wonderful help and the good old doc just stood there and said, ‘Oh my fucking God’.  The ambulance officers went back to work on him, albeit in vain”.

To read more about Officer Kay’s traumatic experiences during his long prison career, read my latest Ebook Australia’s Best Prison Stories, available on Amazon.

You can contact me on petertegge@gmail.com

RESCUE DOGS WORKING IN NEW SOUTH WALES PRISONS

RESCUE DOGS WORKING

IN

NEW SOUTH WALES

PRISONS

It is a pleasure to have a good story to report on in the New South Wales Prisons for a change.  For some reason, it seems to me it’s all doom and gloom.

The Prison Officer’s Union is the Public Service Association.  Their news magazine is titled ‘Red Tape’. 

I received my October-December 2017 issue this morning and I was delighted to see a wonderful article on two young Prison Officers who are working in the Department’s K9 Training Team. 

The dogs they are training were rescue dogs from Herds2Homes, a great organisation whose charter is to get rescue farm dogs and rehouse them. 

The dogs are trained and put to work sniffing out a variety of drugs within the NSW Prison system.  If we believe the publicity and I do, the NSW Prison system is full of drugs and therefore these two young dogs and their handlers should be of great value to the Department and to the public in general. 

The handler above is First Class Prison Officer Mick Campbell with his 22 month old kelpie-cross ‘Seb’.   Mr. Campbell undertook a four month intensive training course with his faithful companion Seb, who lives at home with his master.

Mr. Campbell is also shown in the photo below with his work colleague, First Class Prison Officer Greg Breeze and his faithful dog ‘Wilbur’ who is 21 months old and is also a kelpie-cross. 

Mr. Breeze is quoted as saying “Coming to work with your mates and these great dogs. It’s a good place to be”, and for my money, I could only imagine that it would be.

First Class Prison Officer Mick Campbell with his dog ‘Seb’ and First Class Prison Officer Greg Breeze with his dog ‘Wilbur’.

Photos and story in general courtesy of Red Tape – Public Service Association of New South Wales.

Simply a great story.

This I believe.

Peter T Egge

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.

ROBERT (BOB) DYSON

I received a phone call from Bob Dyson last week where he informed me that he was ill and required surgery later this week.

I believe the surgery to be quite serious, yet Bob maintains a very positive outlook which is always helpful in situations such as his.

He is very fortunate that his good wife Liz is extremely supportive and doing everything possible to prepare him for surgery, including preparing special food that he requires prior to his surgery.

Bob was always one of these Prison Officers that remained level headed and gave sound advice.  He enjoyed a joke and a bit of fun, yet when it came to his duties, he took them seriously and carried them out to his utmost ability.  He was senior to me and I always enjoyed working under his supervision.  Bob retired in 1980 as an Assistant Superintendent.

Bob, like all Prison Officers, dealt with his share of extremely hardened, dangerous and ruthless criminals.  One such criminal was Lionel Roy Barlow.  His crimes were beyond belief.  You can read about Barlow and other exploits by Bob Dyson in a number of my eBooks, including my latest eBook, Australia’s Best Prison Stories available on Amazon.

Bob phones me every two or three weeks and we enjoy chatting together about the old, as well as the current, Prison stories.

I wish Bob a successful outcome to his surgery and a speedy recovery.

Peter T Egge