Tristan Burbridge

Hey everyone, I’m Tristan Burbridge and I am currently incarcerated in a NSW gaol. This is the first time I have had a personal webpage and I feel very honoured to be included in iExpress.

I love to read books. My favourite types are sci-fi and fantasy. I have read and re-read the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling and the Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin, and have loved them every time. Being incarcerated gives me a lot of time to read books and sometimes I read a few books a week.

I have been in the system for about four years. The first time I came to gaol was in early 2014 and it was probably the SCARIEST thing I have ever experienced.

My first time I was incarcerated was for two months while on remand. I spent my first few days in Mid North Coast Correctional Centre (MNC), followed by Cessnock Correctional Centre (CCC) where I was in one-out cells and only met about a dozen other inmates. Then I went to Parklea Correctional Centre and experienced my first two-out cell. I was petrified. But then I got out on bail.

The next time I came in was a few months later after I had been sentenced to four years (2 years in jail and 2 on parole). In the two years I was in gaol I went to seven different jails (MNC, CCC, Long Bay, South Coast C.C., Kirkconnell C.C., Bathurst C.C. and Junee C.C.). I was released from Junee C.C., but unfortunately I was back inside in just six weeks after breaching my parole. It was the biggest mistake I have made.

Since returning to gaol, I have been all but trying to find ways to make my time in gaol, as well as others, as easy as possible. I know gaol should not be easy but the way things are now are beyond what they should be.

I am always talking to or writing to other inmates about their time in gaol and what can be changed in the corrective services system to make their incarceration more beneficial.

Education is something I want to work towards whilst incarcerated so I can have a better chance of getting a job and setting my life straight after my current sentence.