Maximum security – the toughest classification in the Australian prison system – exerts a powerful fascination for us. Housing the nation's worst criminals, the so-called 'intractables', these facilities are settings of violence and despair. Just how rough are these jails within jails, and what's it like to be incarcerated in them?
From the brutal regime of colonial Norfolk Island to the sterile cruelty of Jika Jika and Katingal, James Morton, bestselling author of Gangland Australia and Shotgun and Standover, takes us through the history of these sinister places of punishment, which have been home to notorious figures like Mark 'Chopper' Read, Brenden Abbott and Russell 'Mad Dog' Cox. Infamous criminals, gang wars behind bars, riots, corruption, great escapes and brutal bashings and murders are all covered in this gripping and informed account.
