Australia's Most Murderous Prison

Publisher details

Author
James Phelps
Publisher
Random House
Genres
History, Non Fiction
Released
03 August, 2015
ISBN
9780857987495

Australia’s Most Murderous Prison

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Synopsis

An unprecedented spate of murders in the 1990s – seven in just three years – earned Goulburn Jail the ominous name of ‘The Killing Fields'. Inmates who were sentenced or transferred to the 130-year-old towering sandstone menace declared they had been given a death sentence.Gang alliances, power plays, contracted hits, the ice trade, the colour of your skin – even mistaken identity – any number of things could seal your fate.The worst race war in the history of Australian prisons saw several groups – Aboriginal, Lebanese, Asian, Islander and Anglo – wage a vicious and uncontrollable battle for power. Every day there were stabbings. Every day there were bashings. And then there was murderA controversial policy known as ‘racial clustering' might have put an end to the Killing Fields, but soon something far scarier would arise, something called Supermax . . . Within the stark white walls, clinical halls and solitary confinement, it is where Australia's most evil men are locked away. It is home to serial killer Ivan Milat; the ‘Terror Five', militants who plotted attacks across Sydney in 2005; Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy and gang rapist Bilal Skaf, to name a few.
James Phelps
About the author

James Phelps

James Phelps is an award-winning senior reporter for Sydney's The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. He began as an overnight police-rounds reporter before moving into sport, where he became one of Australia's best news-breaking rugby league journalists. James was then appointed News Corp Australia's Chief National Motorsports Writer and travelled the world chasing Formula 1 stories, as well as covering Australia's V8 Supercar races. As well as writing bestselling and critically acclaimed biographies of Dick Johnson and Johnathan Thurston, James established himself as Australia's number-one true crime writer with his bestselling prison series, including Australia's Hardest PrisonAustralia's Most Murderous Prison, and Australia's Toughest Prisons. His most recent books are Australian Heist (2018), a dramatic retelling of the true story behind Australia's largest gold robbery, and Australian Code Breakers (2020), a gripping account of how Australian cryptographers helped bring about the most vital Allied naval victory of World War I.

Books by James Phelps

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