Summary: When Don Osborne went to Pentridge in 1970, he found a nineteenth-century penal establishment in full working order. It held about 1200 inmates, most of them cooped up in tiny stone cells that sweltered in summer and froze in winter. Some had no sewerage or electric light. Assigned to teach in the high-security section of the prison, Don worked in the chapel, which doubled as a classroom during the week. There, he saw the terrible effects of the violence that permeated H Division, the prison's punishment section. He found himself acting as confidant and counsellor to some of the best-known criminals of this era, and to others who'd become notorious later, after H Division had worked its magic on them.
CONTENTS
Introductory pages: Information about the author, Don Osborne. Table of contents. Foreword vii. Introduction p1.
Chapter 1: The development of Pentridge p5. The stockade p5. The prison takes shape p8. New orders p12. Reorganisation and reform p15.
Chapter 2: From remand to prison p21. On remand p21. Into Pentridge p25.
Chapter 3: H Division p39. The shape of H Division p40. The reception biff p44. Living by the rules p46. From labour yards to industry yards p51. Rebellion p52. The Jenkinson Inquiry p55. Life after Jenkinson p62.
Chapter 4: An education officer p71. School in the chapel p73. Prison conversations p77. The shadow of H Division p79. Family matters p85.
Chapter 5: Escapes p89. An early fatality (Robert Taylor) p90. Edward Ryder p90. Further fatalities (Charles Willmott, Thomas Kelly) p90. Pierre Douar p91. John Sparks and John O’Connor p92. William Evans p94. John Monson p94. Reginald Barker p95. Kenneth Jones p96. George Howard p97. Victor Franz p98. Maxwell Skinner p99. Kathleen Allwood and Margaret Burke p101. William Davies p102. Gary Oak, William Kelly, and Graeme Wilson p103. John Gill p104. James Gribble p105. Richard Horsley p106. Rex Elston p106. Keith Sims, Frederick Shea and Ronald McCaul p107. Harold Peckman p108. Donald Marshall p109. Gregory Smith and Trevor Jolly p110. Larry Simpson p111. Norman Bloomfield, Peter Morgan, Trevor Bradley and Ross Burleigh p112. Robert Wright, David McGauley, David Youlton and Timothy Neville p113. Peter Clune p114. Dennis Quinn p114. Christopher Binse p115.
Chapter 6: Executions p119. David Bennett p121. Arnold Sodeman p123. Edward Cornelius p125. Thomas Johnson p127. George Green p130. Alfred Bye p133. Edward Joseph Leonski p137. Jean Lee, Robert Clayton and Norman Andrews p145. Ronald Ryan p151.
Chapter 7: William John O’Meally p159. The Crystal Palace p162. The trial p165. Under sentence p171. Escape and retribution p174.
Chapter 8: Andrew Gordon Kilpatrick p181. The body in the Barwon trial p184. Kilpatrick in Pentridge p189.
Chapter 9: Robert Peter Tait p193.
Chapter 10: Daryl Francis Suckling p201. An institutional life p202. Wyarama Station p203.
Chapter 11: Leith McDonald Ratten p211. The affair p212. The fateful day p213. The trial p217. Appeals p220. Postscript p225.
Chapter 12: James Edward ‘Jockey’ Smith p227. The Ryan connection p228. On the run p229.
Chapter 13: Leigh Robinson p237. The road to murder p237. In and out of jail p239. A fatal rerun p241.
Chapter 14: Derek Ernest Percy p245. Yvonne Tuohy p246. Warning signs p249. The Wanda Beach murders p251. The Beaumont children p253. Allen Redston p257. Linda Stilwell p259. The model prisoner p260.
Chapter 15: Christopher Dale Flannery p265. The streets of Brunswick p266. From robber to standover man p267. The gang wars p270. Disappearance p272.
Chapter 16: Laurence Joseph Prendergast p281. The Great Bookie Robbery p282. The (Lesley Herbert ‘Les’) Kane murder p285. Gone without a trace p291.
Chapter 17: Towards closure p297. Jika Jika p298. The brief life of B Annexe p299. Crisis and retreat p299. Pentridge new and old (changes since closure) p302. Bibliography p305. Image list p309. Acknowledgments p310.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Don Osborne.
Clock tower (turret), main entrance x.
B Division entrance p4.
Internal gate, A Division p19.
B Division front window p20.
Guard’s tower staircase p37.
H Division industry yard entrance p38.
Side view of A Division p69.
B Division chapel window p70.
Steel spikes and razor wire p88.
B Division security gates p117.
Rear view of A Division p158.
B Division cell block p180.
No Man’s Land wall, rear B Division p191.
E Division entrance p192.
Staircase to underground cells, B Division p199.
B Division circle and cell block p200.
A Division entrance p210.
B Division cell block p226.
Security fence, A Division exercise yard p236.
B Division exercise yard gate p244.
A Division cell block p264.
Guard’s tower p279.
A Division cell block and staircase p280.
Main entrance p295.
B Division cell door p296.
Between pages 150 and 151:
B Division skylight looking up from the circle.
B Division cell block.
View from interior of underground or ‘blind’ cell, B Division.
Interior of underground cell showing pit into which a prisoner could be lowered.
View from chapel, showing fire damage caused by rioting prisoners in 1978.
Entrance to chapel, B Division.
Recently excavated foundations of ‘airing yards’ in B Division.
B Division exercise yard entrance.
B Division cell.
Painted cross on tunnel floor, H Division.
Entrance to H Division tunnel.
H Division cell. Prisoners originally had to do without cupboards like the one on the end wall.
Main entrance internal gate through which O’Meally and Taylor escaped in 1957.
Exterior main entrance.
Lonely rose against a wall.
D Division, where executions took place.
E Division entrance.
B Division Chief Prison Officer’s office where Robert Walker held hostages.
H Division reception area and Chief Prison Officer’s office.
H Division entrance.
Internal guard’s tower.
Walkway in guard’s tower.
Main entrance from square.
Aerial view of Pentridge circa 1920. The letters superimposed on the photo identify the divisions as they were known in the 1960s. Note the ‘airing yards’ at the lower left of A Division and the H Division labour yards.
William John O’Meally, twice escaped from Pentridge and was the original inhabitant of H Division, 1952.
Article about Andrew Gordon Kilpatrick, the ‘Barwon murderer and one-time ‘King of Pentridge’.
Robert Peter Tait, callous murderer of a defenceless old lady.
Daryl Francis Suckling almost committed the perfect murder when Jodie Larcombe disappeared.
Leith Ratten with Ernie Sigley. Was the shooting of his wife deliberate or accidental?
James Edward ‘Jockey’ Smith was labelled ‘Public Enemy no. 1’ by the media.
Leigh Robinson took the lives of two girlfriends who rejected him.
Derek Ernest Percy, a sadistic paedophile murderer who took his secrets to the grave.
Christopher Dale Flannery, branded as ‘Mr Rent-a-Kill’, over alleged contract killings.
Laurence Joseph Prendergast, acquitted of murder and disappeared in mysterious circumstances.