Incarcerated with plenty of time on his hands, Damien Linnane had to get creative with how to spend his time in lock-up.
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He wrote his first novel Scarred, he taught himself how to draw and he vowed to start a prison magazine when he got out.
The Hunter man is now the editor of Paper Chained, an art and writing magazine for prisoners, something that would have benefited him greatly when he spent time behind bars.
"Ten-years-ago there hadn't been an active prison magazine nationwide for more than a decade and that's exactly what I needed when I was inside," Linnane said.
Of all the magazines and newspapers that have existed for prisoners in NSW, there is only one that he can't locate and that is a magazine called Jail Scene that was produced at Maitland Gaol during the 1970's.
"Among its many contributors was notorious bank robber and prison escapee Darcy Dugan," Linnane said.
The golden age of prison literature was in the 70's and 80's and that's when most prisons had a magazine."
A librarian by profession, Linnane said state libraries have incomplete collections but often that's because somebody chose to donate their personal copy to their local library.
"Even if people have other prison magazines that isn't Jail Scene, I would be very interested in hearing from them," he said.
Speaking about his time in prison, Linnane said he'd suffered with depression.
"And I wasn't able to get access to therapy so having a prison magazine would have been a big boost to my self-esteem."
Although his drawing talent kept him busy with a backlog of prisoners who wanted to order portraits from him in exchange for food, but what was missing for Linnane was a platform to share his work.
"I wasn't feeling motivated because there was no way of showing my work so I started to ask around if there was a prison magazine," he said.
Linnane served 10 months and did the majority of his sentence at Glen Innes Correctional Centre for two counts of maliciously damaging property, being armed with intent to commit an offence and maliciously damaging property by fire.
The sentencing magistrate found his motivation was "vigilante action."
The now 38-year-old has turned his life around and is reaching more than 12,000 people in custody across Australia with Paper Chained.
"It's easy to stay motivated because I can see the amount of help I'm providing people," he said.
Linnane is also currently completing a PhD at the University of Newcastle and said part of his PHD is looking at the history of prison journalism in Australia.
"Over the past two years I have tracked down over 900 individual issues of magazines and newspapers produced in prison for prisoners, ranging from 1912 until the present day," he said.
Paper Chained can be read for free online. To contact Damien Linnane, visit the Paper Chained website.
To purchase Linnane's memoir Raw, visit Harry Hartog.
Laura Rumbel
Laura Rumbel is a journalist who has always called Maitland home. She has been with the Maitland Mercury since 2022, and is passionate about all areas of local news.
Laura Rumbel is a journalist who has always called Maitland home. She has been with the Maitland Mercury since 2022, and is passionate about all areas of local news.
