Customer Reviews

Jail 4 Beginners

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Jail 4 Beginners is a pretty interesting book. Sort of a prison diary format similar to Archer's A Prison Diary trilogy. I enjoyed this book more than Archer's probably because Rex Donald (the inmate) is a bit more likeable and a hard working type guy than Archer was and he also doesn't spend heaps of pages portraying himself as a victim like Archer did. Plus he doesn't get the celebrity special treatment prison experience Archer had either so the reader gets to see the real world behind bars.

Rex Donald was behind bars for 26 weeks (sentenced 3 years, suspended after six months), he doesn't go into details much of his crime, something to do with a gambling addiction and fraud (Australia has laws that you can't profit from crime so he probably wasn't able to) but this actually makes the book a bit more interesting as we the reader are not sidetracked into this whole side of things. He gives first accounts of what is like to be marched from court in his three piece suit and taken to the Watchhouse where he is stripped, searched and issued his prison browns. His initial days in WACOL where he is amongst hardened long time prisoners while waiting to be processed was a dramatic change from his daily life and Donald writes it all down. He points out the differences to what we see on TV shows and movies. He is shortly after processed and sent to a prison farm where he has a lot more freedom, freedom which even shocked him. Rex Donald also transfers to various work teams who use their construction skills (his in particular is welding) to visit various correctional facilities around the southern parts of the Australian state of Queensland and fix or build things. So even though Donald only spent half a year or so behind bars he is a position to describe the differences and give his opinions between the different correctional facilities.

The book also has glimpses of his wife's point of view of the situation including being caught testing positive to having come into contact with drugs (she says from the medicine taken while sick) while visiting him and her fears of how this will reflect on the guards outlook on Rex as an inmate.

Quite and interesting read and as the title suggests would also be worthwhile to give to someone before the courts, who may end up doing time so they'll know what to expect. Since the majority of the book is set on the open prison farms and so forth it is probably the more likely destination the average reader may end up in as well if they tape a movie, download a song without paying for it and so on.