Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

‘You must have done something to upset them otherwise you wouldn’t be
in here. Anyway, you look a bit like Liddy’s brother. Liddy’s in protective
custody and so is von Einem’. (Liddy was the magistrate who was involved
in child sex matters and von Einem had killed a boy. Both were part of
what is often referred to as the dark underbelly of Adelaide.)
‘Hey, mate, you don’t want to be going into protective custody. It’s full of
weirdoes, paedophiles and rapists and child molesters. You better apply for
mainstream – it’s better’.
‘Yea. I’ll do that’.
And there I was thinking on the first evening here that I signed that piece of
paper, that I had taken the advice of the officer who handed it to me, and
also of the reception officer who upon admission advised likewise, that on
account of my being a high profile prisoner I may find protective custody
more suitable than mainstream.
That night I laugh to myself about the whole situation. A couple of weeks
later someone suggested that G Division acts as an overflow when all the
other divisions are full. Another suggested that a high profile prisoner without
a prior conviction needs to be risk assessed for possible suicide or violence.
Whatever the reason for my stay in G Division, it has been instructive.
I pass the cleaning test on Saturday morning, though again a small blemish
is found on the washbasin. But my response satisfied the officer, ‘Yes, Sir’.
When I dropped the rubbish into the bin outside, an officer stood next to
the trolley that holds pens and paper. I ask for both and also for a Prisoner
Request Form.
‘What for!’.
‘Sir, yesterday during exercise I learned that I am in solitary confinement, in
the punishment unit. I thought I was in protective custody. I signed a form
on the first night I arrived, thinking this was protective custody. Now fellows
have advised me otherwise and I would like to withdraw that application
and be placed in mainstream’.
The officer, an ex-military type who was evidently at home within himself,
handed me a form.
‘Thank you, Sir, and if possible I would like to see out my 3 months prison
sentence here in G Division’.
‘What?’.
‘Yes, Sir. I’ve experienced too much madness outside and this unit seems a
haven of sanity, something that I would appreciate. It’s quiet, the cell is
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