January 5, 2025 • 43 mins
While the Clink goes on break for the summer, enjoy some classic episodes
Mel Watson is a former prison guard who worked the infamous Long Bay. In part 2 we hear her journey and some of the things she witness as a screw at Long Bay
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses real stories of childabuse, sexual abuse and suicide. If you need help please call Lifeline 13 11 14
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Approache Production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey guys, Sima here from the Clink. While we take
a short break over the Christmas period, we're going to
drop a couple of episodes, some of our favorite of
twenty twenty four, so you don't miss out and can
continue following the Clink. This episode has been proudly brought
to you by our longtime sponsored supporters Sideway Surf. Thank
you for all your support for the record.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Don't try and make you out comfortable, Photo Record. You
ain't trying world and stand for your photo record. Lab
on me going hard to work, photo Record. Ain't trying
to link, no chrying to wish stuff for the record,
for the record, for the for the record, for the
red already photo racket. Don't try and make you out comfortable.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Welcome back to the clean comparts to a French chat
with Mel Watson. We kick off with Mel sharing her
experiences as a prison guard in one of Australia's toughest jails.
I'm going to thank you for being so open and
vulnerable at the moment about this, and I know it's
going to ruffle ruffle some feathers, and I frankly don't
give a fuck because I'm going to tell you why
(01:33):
the ship that we go through as inmates, and look, okay,
the Karens out there are going to go, oh, yes,
but you put yourself in jail. Yeah, all right, Well,
so well you're in jail, you're doing your time. Does
that mean you need to be crucified whilst you're in jail?
Does that mean you need to be treated like an
animal whilst you're in jail? The abuse that you endure
whilst you're in jail, the levels that they take things
(01:58):
to in excess that are over and beyond. What needs
to happen is beyond, and we as the inmates at
that stage get told to put in a blue and
at the end of the day, you're not going to
tell on anyone because you're not a dog. So therefore,
if you were to write a statement against a crema,
(02:18):
whether you write a statement against a screw, either way,
you're a dog. It's as simple as that. So we
live with it. It becomes something that is so common
and so regular. You are somebody whom I want to
thank again, because this is the voice that will and
needs to be heard. And I'm proud of you for
(02:41):
having the confidence and the strength to not be fearful
to have this conversation because I know a lot of
people wouldn't, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I already know the organization that I'm speaking out against,
but I don't care because it's just the same as
what I do. Like, I'm not going to protect anyone,
and I'm not going to be silent about some of
the disgusting stuff that goes on in there.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
What stuff did you witness in them? Me while we're
on this topic, because you know, for us, and I
want to say for us, Look, I am well and
truly beyond my offending years. Yes, I'm on Supreme Court
bar for a matter fifteen years ago. So for everybody
out there that wants to have their little poke the
bear you got it, Does that make me a criminal? No?
(03:26):
I am a very very you know, strong believer in
rightfulness and setting things right. And this is why the
Clink is what it is, because it allows us to
have a voice.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yes, I would love for you to tell the people
out there, because people think we're so full of shit
by the time we we said this happened, that happened,
and no one wants.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To know about it. Mel. Please, for the people that
are in them, the men and the women for us
that have been through it, tell our listeners that what
you tell them the truth, No, I will.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Tell I will tell the truth that there is a
lot of power troopers in that job. And there's honestly
a lot of people in that job who should be
wearing green, not blue. And the thing is is that
they do take advantage of their positions. They do punish
people or inmates for things that really are not necessary.
(04:27):
And they do look at all inmates like, you know,
a piece of shit on the bottom of like piece
of freaking gum on the bottom of your shoe like that.
That's how they talk, That's how they look at you.
That's how they treat you. And it's not just you know,
it's not just the officers, it's higher up. They don't
(04:47):
give shit. They sweep everything under the rug. You can't
exactly that, you can't make complaints. Complaints don't go anywhere.
And I'll be honest, I actually put it. I put
that officer on paper, which really destroyed my career there.
But I was already ready to get out of that job,
so it wasn't a problem for me, but for other
(05:07):
people who actually want to speak out and you know,
have things done. Like it's hard. You can't. You can't
speak out in that job.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
We got to put in a mystery bluey and you
know the bluey just gets thrown in the bin.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, no you can't. It's yeah, nothing happens, nothing goes anywhere.
They always make it look like they're doing something, but
they don't. And a lot of the officers do g
up the inmates. That's one thing that not that's not
a conspiracy. It happens a lot. And like I said,
(05:44):
there is good officers in that job, but they don't
stay there forever. And if they are there forever, they've
earned their place, like they've got respect, they're not assholes.
All the stuff that people come out and say, it's
not something that I wouldn't not believe having seen it myself.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
The things that you know, I mean, I can really
go deep into and you will definitely know more than
most the physical abuse that the inmates, like look, yes, okay,
inmates can be very violent and sometimes the squad comes
in and does what needs to be done to certain
inmates with reason.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
People think, so everyone's like, oh, the squad, this the
squad that like their training is like three days.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Oh, we get locked down while they train and have
to listen to them, like I remember, I remember. You know,
there's no screws. Nothing gets done because it's training days.
So the inmates don't get the shower, they don't get
the phone calls, they don't get their mail, they don't
get shit. You just stay locked in all day while
the screws are out there with the dog's bark and
marching around the yard being fucking superheroes, playing fucking dress ups.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's the same when they're short staffed. If you're short
staff everyone's locked in.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well, it's true, and spend you spend a lot of
time in segro. First thing they do is they pull
the segro screws out, you know what I mean. And
we've sat for days, days and days. Silver Water was
just renowned for it.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, no, it's so true. I was always, you know,
very respectful with inmates. I wanted to just go home
at the end of the day. I'm not there to
start ship. I'm not there to get into a use
of force. I've never had a use of force because
I've never needed to. And like the the thing in
that job is it's your communication and the way you talk.
(07:31):
Is what gets you places, is what gets you respect,
is what is what you know, de escalates situations. But
there's a lot of people that just won't do that.
And there's a lot of inmates who would rather have
the use of force because it's it's kind of like
a trophy for them. I guess you know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
The thing is too we get to have a crack
at is that's the bottom line. We're going to We're
going to get pumped. We know that we're going to
get pumped because how how does any one man defend
himself against you know, a bunch of steroid munching you know,
like a lot of island. There's a lot of big,
big men, you know, like and I'm one hundred and
forty one hundred and fifty kilo six foot beasts and
(08:12):
that's small, you know, with battleshields and everything else, battons
and whatever else, you're not gonna win. But if you
get one of them, it's a win, you know, and
it is it's like, well, run in on me. I'm
fuck I remember getting rended Bathust was the worse for
it no.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Good in their groups. But you know what, the females
can be mouthy as well. When they know they've got
all the boys around them.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
They're fuckheads. They're they're cocky, little fuckheads. They shits their
and they pick and pick and pick, and then the
boys come running in behind them.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And if the boys weren't there, telling you now, they
wouldn't be doing that, not at all. A lot of
people are scared in that job. They're not tough, like
as tough as you think. They're only tough because they've
got each other, that's it. But on their own, these
people are scared. These people are not you know, they're
(09:04):
not as They're not as big as they make themselves
out to be. And I'm not, I'm not. I'm not
bashing all of them because like I said, they're really
are some beautiful, beautiful officers in that job. But I
still ends to this day. But majority of them I
would never meet with outside of work. Majority of them, yeah,
I would never trust, never ever trust an officer.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I'm going to ask you this, and I want this
cleaned up a little bit because this is this is
a presumption and we always get blamed and look, all right,
there's certain things that happen on visits. There's certain ways
that things enter the prison that are you know, prohibited
and what have you. And I know for a fact
(09:48):
that there's definitely officers in there that have assisted well
and truly and over and beyond over the years. Of course, no, no,
I just you've got to remember these wonderful people that
listen to these podcasts. A lot of people are quite naive.
And I say that with respect, Please don't take that
the heart. But they don't know, and everybody assumes. And
(10:09):
the assumption is it's the wife, it's the girlfriend, it's
the boyfriend, it's the friend, it's this, it's that. Let
me tell you the amount of drugs and contraband mobile phones. Fuck,
we used to pay, We used to pay a screw
and I won't even go into detail. He got busted, right,
and this is back back in the day at Long Bay.
He was the activities by our officer for many, many,
(10:32):
many years, okay, and he and his wife both worked there.
They come undone massively. But the amount of money that
they made by bringing in everybody had assex, that had
any cash outside. Everyone had phones. Now, whatever you wanted
was available, more than what you could get on the streets.
(10:52):
And this was not coming in from the families. This
was not the first to be blamed, you know what
I mean, the visit to be stopped, you'd be put
on box visits. This had happened, That had happened because
of allegations. Yeah, but it's a fucking screws that we're
doing it all.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
This is what I will say when COVID happens. Let's
just say that visits were shut down and drugs are
still getting in. How do you know what I mean?
And it's it's not it's not a conspiracy like that
does happen a lot. At the end of the day.
These offices are around, you know, criminals, and eventually you
(11:34):
become part of that environment. So when you when you're
getting bribes with money like you know, not everyone's going
to turn that down, especially if you're in a position
to be able to bring something in like you see.
The thing is is it's it's not it's not hard
to bring something in, but it's not exactly easy. So
the people that are bringing something in, they've got connections somewhere,
(11:58):
or they're in higher positions like a casual. Like when
I was in there, there's no way I could have
brought something in, especially these days.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Two male Like the way that you know, you've got
to enter the prison and what you've got to go
for a scrutinise before you come in. There's got to
be a backdoor and you've got to have, like you said,
a setup. It doesn't just happen.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
No, there's definitely there's definitely ways to get it in,
but it's not exactly easy. And like I said, whoever's
doing it has a lot of knowledge in that job
to be able to get something in. But it's it's
the same. It's there's a lot of things. Everyone thinks that,
like all the officers are innocent, but they're really not.
(12:38):
Just because you have a uniform on doesn't mean shit.
Like I knew heaps of people in jail. I went
to school with a lot of people that I saw
in jail, and like I grew up around that life,
and all of a sudden, I have a uniform on.
That doesn't change what I know or what I've done,
Do you know what I mean? It's the same for officers,
Like it's just a uniform. You can't be under the
(13:01):
impression that anyone in a uniform is just this righteous person,
because I can tell you now, so many in that
job are not the complete opposite.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I think for you, Mail, it probably would have given
you a little bit more credit street credit for those
I guess, and I could be wrong, but I'm just thinking,
you know, you would be street wise, you would understand
and see things differently, You would pick up on different things,
and like you said, you know, you could resolve I guess,
(13:30):
situations a lot better through your communications and your personality
as opposed to someone who hadn't lived that life or
being around that life and just decided, oh I'm just
going to be a screw and come out of a
school and terrorized criminals.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
You know, I think inmates picked up on that energy
as well. Like I was just casual, like I'm just
like I don't give a shit, like as long as
I'm not getting in trouble, and you're not getting in trouble,
Like it's fine, you get what you're entitled to. But
there's so many officers that will dress like even the things,
the littlest things that you're entitled to that are you know,
(14:05):
your right to have in prison, they will take that
away from you. They will punish you. They you know, dull,
and it's the same with officers, like if they don't
like you, they'll ruin your life in that job. And
there's another thing as well, and this is something that
happened to me, but they if you're new in that job, right,
and they want you to prove yourself. But the thing
(14:28):
is is that you can't prove yourself in an environment
like that. You have to have like people backing you
because anything, shit can pop off at any moment. And
like when I first started, a senior officer left me
in a wing with about two hundred men, all by myself,
and he just left. There was only two of us,
(14:49):
and he goes, oh, I'll be back and took off.
And I had all these inmates harassing me, and I
was so scared and I was new. It was my
first day. And it was a sweeper who actually came
to me and stood at the door and he said, miss,
I'm not gonna let anyone talk to you. Just keep
doing what you need to do. And everyone left me
alone after that, and this officer came back and he's
just like, oh, you know, how's how's everything going? And
(15:11):
in my head I'm just like, did you do Like
did you do that?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
On perpect you set me up. You purposely did that
to test me. Yeah, yeah, how could you not think
of it any other way?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, And I just thought that's messed up because you know,
at the end of the day, like, I know what,
that's the job I signed up for, but I also
didn't know I was going to be left alone as
a female. And you know, they always they always go
on about, oh, you know your family in blue and
you know, we've all got each other's back, not like
that at all.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
They all want to get you on your back. I
think that's the fucking bottom line. That's not sorry, but
you know, like, fucker wow, that's.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
What the job jobby is just about that. Like you
go to work and it's guys talking about how big
the dicks are, and you know, talking about, oh, I
want to put that girl away, and you know, oh,
just then they're all married, like they've got kids and
they have wives at home, and they're just disgusting. And
the way they talk to women in that job is
just it's a boys club for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Speaking of that type of mannerism and derogatory talk and
things like that, you were working with the sickest of
the sick. Let's talk Let's talk about this because this
is something that you know as a survivor. Pray. Look,
(16:34):
I put you up here, I think for you to
be able to accept that job work around predators. How
you did that, I don't know, but what an amazing
woman you are for doing it. And you know, I
get it now because of the path you're on and
what you're what it is that you're out there doing
daily to achieve to break that cycle and tell the
(16:58):
world the real facts around it. I want our listeners
to truly understand what happens to these sick fucks in there,
and I'm going to call it for what it is.
And you people out there that assume that when you
see it on the news, that this bloke's you know,
had you know. I'm not even going to use certain
words here because it is triggering and it makes me
(17:22):
sick of my blood boil. But let's just say pedophiles
who have a numerous, multiple multiple charges and you know
their their mindsets and their actions and things that they've done,
we all sit out here and go they should get
stabbed and the boys will get them in ja mate,
no one gets shit. You don't get near a fucking pedophile.
(17:43):
And if you do your cop six months straight away
for anything you make. You spit on a dog and
you get six months.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You get more time than they do for sexually abusing
a child. Correct, you get more time for hurting them.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That is facts, that's not there is.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
There is no once in a blue moon you'll hear
someone that just happened across paths got got and it's
not a proper got, it's just a little bit of
a tickle.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, And I always think those sort of ones. You
also got to think where they So I get this
comment all the time. People are like, oh, you know,
big Bubba is going to take care of them, and
I'm like, there's no big Bubba taking care of them. Like,
they are completely separated. There is absolutely no way a
Maine can access them unless an officer set it up.
(18:34):
And officers are not going to do that easily and
lose their job.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
What is it duty of care?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Duty of care? Gosh, they forgot about those words, beauty
of care.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
We have a duty of care to protect everybody.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, you can be in the main and you get
stabbed quick as you walk onto the yard. But you
be a pedophile and you go into jarle and you
get your nice, your nice cuppa in your bed.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, officers have coffees with pedophiles in the wings. Because
they are the most well behaved inmates. That's why they
have the best jobs. They get the most resources. At
Long Bay. They have a music studio, a fully decked
out music studio that no other inmates have. And how
many other ones could benefit from something like music therapy,
for example, But that's what they have. And they even
(19:24):
get like a little bit of extra time out they
they are the most well behaved because and that that
comes with their character. They're grooming, you know. Ever, they're cunning,
but to the to the normal person, they look friendly.
They look you know, intelligent, articulate, like they're just lovely people.
But that's not who they are. It's just what you see.
(19:46):
And so people have no problem interacting with them and
talking to them because they talk to you like a
friendly neighbor. I hate us talking to.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Can you can you just just take us back for
a sec right, because it's somebody whom and many of
us listen have been in the system. So okay, doors
are cracked, it's muster. What starts were there for a
day in this sick pit of pedophiles, the strict protection.
(20:15):
What's their day constructed of? Because to me, I have
this vision of them all just sitting around sipping lattes,
talking about how they've done their crimes, and you know
how excited they are and educating each other how to
better systems to reoffend.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah. Look, to be honest, I was lucky enough to
not have to so I had most of my dealings
with them in the courts. I was lucky enough to
only have, you know, a few less than a handful
of moments where I was in the wings with them,
and this was more so during my training. But they
(20:51):
are out all together, they go into each other's cells.
They they're just sitting around talking to each other. They
have a nice little courtyard in one of their rehabilitation.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Units or with flourish and people.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
It's lovely, a nice little place to have coffy. And
you know they have psychologists group meetings that offices are
not allowed to sit in. But you know that they're
talking about their crimes and people think that they're remorseful
and sorry. When I was working in the courts, for example,
I was taking all my whole day was filled with
(21:26):
child sexual abuse cases. That's how bad it is. And
I would take them to court. They're victims who some
of them were like males in their forties who were
breaking down on the stand crying, and then I would
take them out for lunch, like just out of the courtroom,
down to their cells and they're just like, oh, how's
(21:47):
your day. Oh I love the cookies here, like just
no care at all, no remorse, no nothing, And like
I get you know, I get a lot of comments
of people who actually sympathize with them and protect them,
and they're like, oh yeah I.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Do, and they're like in your pages, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yes, and they're like, oh, well, they shouldn't be punished
in prison. They've done their time. And I'm like fourteen
months for sexually abusing child, which is I.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Did a post on my ankle bracelet this week. Are
real and I got trolled to the shit house because
I have an ankle. I'm scum, I am fucking I'm
a criminal. There's a reason this and that sucked in
deal with it all the bullshit and I'm just proble
fuck Like, oh I god hammered.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
They didn't get ankle bracelets. They get they literally get
out like after fourteen months. That was that was the
norm for the And this is this is one thing
I would take up, you know, and I'm not justifying
anyone's crimes, but I would take up drug dealers or
anyone who's committed like you know, tax fraud or whatever.
You know, they're getting up to twenty years. And then
I would take a pedophile. I took. I took one
(22:54):
who he raped thirty seven kids and he got fourteen
months on parole because my goodness, because he was a
pari a priest and he is defense argued that he
had still done a lot of good for the community.
He was Actually he didn't get an ankle bracelet.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Oh that's see, that's you've just given us one one
case of thousands.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
No, And that was the thing. I really enjoyed working
at the courts because I feel like that's where I
learned a lot about how they operate and just the damage.
Like as being a survivor myself, I already know, but
I also, you know, I felt very alone in that.
I felt like, oh, you know, I'm the only one.
But then seeing how common it is and just what
(23:45):
they do and the lengths they go to and then
seeing them after court And I always say that after
court or in prison is when you see a pedophile
in their real Like that's the real then, because they're
not trying to prove anything to police, they're not trying
to look good on paper, like that's who they are.
And they're not remorseful, and so many people are like, oh,
(24:05):
you know, are they sorry and this and that. I'm like,
absolutely freaking not. I've never seen one say sorry. I've
never seen one take accountability. They always make excuses and
then they get the best resources in prison, which just
makes no sense to me because it's not a punishment
for them. Everyone thinks that prison is a punishment for them.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It's it's a school. It's a school to better their crimes.
That's all it is.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
It's a holiday camp for pedophiles, It's what it is,
and they love it and they teach each other to
come out and access you know, see sam like child
sexual abuse material. They just it's just people are so
oblivious and they are just getting so much more resources
(24:50):
and protection than anyone else. And these resources would benefit
survivors and should go to survivor.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And we need more of it. We truly, do you
know there's not enough out there to help us.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Absolutely, there's lots for them. There's lots of and everyone's like, oh,
you know, but we need to rehabilitate them. They cannot
be rehabilitated. And I will say that I don't care.
They cannot be rehabilitated, and I don't want them rehabilitated.
I don't want them coming back out to the community
ill after section.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I like this one mal where you get the Karens
and it's like it's an illness, it's a newness. The poor,
the poor things, the things that happened to them when
they were children and they didn't know any better, and
they've just you know, this is damn and this is
who they are. Go fuck yourself. You and I are
both survivors. And so there's probably half the people will listening,
(25:42):
and I can guarantee you one million percent. None of
us are fucking pedophiles.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Absolutely. I get so many of those people.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Oh my blood boils.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I had a psycho. Okay, I'm going to say this
all right, and I don't go for it. I don't
care who I offend. Psychologists in the prisons are pedophile sympathizers,
and they they are they will they think that they
can fix them and they cannot be fixed. And I
get some of them who come on and DM me,
(26:12):
like on Instagram and be like, oh, you're grooming everyone
against pedophiles, and I'm like, is another point, Like who
wouldn't be against the pedophile? But in prison they think
and you know, I get them coming on and they're like, oh,
but in their sessions with like you know, I've had
sessions with them in prison and they're sorry, and you know,
they've had really hard childhoods. And I'm like, but of
(26:33):
course they're telling you that because you're putting that on
paper that goes towards court that helps with their sentencing.
Of course they're going to different story.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
The man, it's a sympath it's a sympathize, a sympathetic
you know, way of justifying their hideous crimes and the
sickening acts that they do.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
It's just funny that there's people that are against it. Like,
I didn't think that that was a thing until I
started my page, and I get you know, I get
a fair share of haters, and I'm just like, you
know what, I couldn't give a shit about your opinion
because you stick up for people who get off over
you know, sexually abusing a child for their own sexual gratification.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Like bite me, like ill, I'll get hammered on my
page because or the media or grab them. They'll say
X bikey enforcer, X, bikey drug dealer X this X
that you know and absolutely try and belittle me in
every possible And I'd say the bloke that rode across
Australia that started a national charity that helped thousands of people,
that writes you know, did a fantastic job and started
(27:33):
a podcast like the Creditation. Not that I'm asking for it,
but I'm just saying the way that they'll manipulate things
and words that they choose yet will show sympathy for
a dirty, rotten, filthy pedophile. And I will not take
a backward step on any word relating to this fucking
(27:53):
scum of the earth.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah no, the don't care. Our government protects pedophiles.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Our just hard for them are fucking pedophiles themselves.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
You know, we're doing a sex offender registry and we
look at Cumra.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
Look at Kumbra gile, a full jile full of fucking
white collar criminals that are mainly pedophiles and fraudsters, and
they all fucking hang out.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's the norm because they go for positions of power
to get like gain the trusts of parents and gain
the trust of children. And that's how they do it.
It's not it's not a conspiracy. They really do go
for positions of power. There's judges that have come out,
as you know, sexually abusing children and they were putting
away pedophiles and giving them like little sentences, do you
(28:41):
know what I mean. So it's yeah, it's so bad.
And and even like with everything that we try to do,
like there's so many advocates that are working to get
legislation in place to actually the lives of pedophiles harder,
and the politicians won't even sit with you. They won't
they bite back. And we've had you know, we're trying
(29:01):
to do a child's sex offender registry. There's a couple
of us advocates.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Just just just slow down on that one because this
is a really important part of this conversation and something
that I really feel needs to be explained so you
will move away from the work that you did within
we've got a fairly good idea of you know, your
knowledge and experience and how traumatic it was and the
realities of what truly goes on in the jail systems.
(29:29):
I mean, I think we can all agree to that
and thank you for your honesty. Corrupt you've well, you've
stepped away from that with a beautiful passion though, and
credit to you once again because your experience and the
way that you've taken you as a survivor, and then
your experience of working firsthand around these oh look at
(29:51):
me start. I can't even use the word just fucking scum.
You you now have created a very strong platform. You're
you're you're building a team of like minded people, yes,
or with the great passion of achieving some wonderful things
(30:13):
to protect protect our children, protect our people from these
wonderful fucking you know, white collar and underprivileged pedophiles that
we are pet. We're pet because you know poor them. Yeah, like,
fuck up, I just can't just you know what, this
(30:35):
is probably going to want to be one of the
toughest episodes for people to listen to in realization, and
I'm not going to apologize at any stage of Nora,
are you for anything? That we're speaking about today. So
now you are working tirelessly, you really are, and doing
a fantastic job. And it's a tough job. And as
you said, you know you're getting a lot of a
(30:56):
lot of walls put up barriers. This is something that
many people have tried to achieve before, and a lot
of people have given up on because it is a
tough road. How's it going for you? And tell us
about what you're doing, and how do we know how
to contact? Where can people find this? Give us all
the insight you.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
So everyone can follow FACA. Now. FACA is amazing. They're
actually pushing for a child sex offender registry that a
couple of US advocates are on board for. We've sent
emails to politicians, We've told them what it's about. We
didn't give them a time or a date, but they
(31:36):
rejected us and said that they are fully booked and
they can't sit with us, even though we didn't give
them a time. But you know what, we're not going
to stop. I think this year especially, there's so many
amazing advocates that are doing just doing God's work, honestly,
and I have to I'm very very proud of so
(32:00):
many of these survivor advocates and the work that they're
doing and the team that we have, because I think
that we're just so we're like stronger in numbers, and
you know, we're not gonna let the government tell us
that we can't because you know, we have to. We
have to fight. We have to be a voice for everyone.
(32:21):
We have to be a voice for people who haven't
made it to this day because of what's happened. We
have to be a voice for people who are still
living in silence. And the more people that are speaking
out and working together, the better. I'm not one to
do this alone. Like you know, I could just do
this for clout and be like, oh, you know, this
is all about me and my story and whatnot. But
I love working with everyone. I love teaming up with
(32:42):
people because we all have the same passion and the
same goal and like so.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I can see it in the way you're like, like
you literally light up each time you speak about it,
and you know, being a survivor yourself, I find that
amazing that you're able to just your pure passion and
it shows Yeah, and that's huge. You know, you've got
no ulterior motive other than to do good.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, I think a lot of it just came from
just seeing the damage I've done to myself and then
seeing the damage it's done to so many people, and
I'm just like and then seeing in the prison system
how well looked after they are, and then seeing in
the justice system how lenient, you know, the judges are
towards them in comparison to other crimes. And I'm just
(33:26):
not going to stand for it anymore. Like, you know,
if people are gonna have a problem with it, I
don't care, because at least the truth is getting out
there and we have to do something about it. And
it takes all of us, like everyone has to come
together to do something. So you guys can stay focused
on what I'm doing and what we're all doing. Follow Packer.
(33:47):
Follow Andrew Carpenter because he is a lawyer that does
amazing work and he's got a petition going through that is,
you know, stops pedophiles from hiding their assets in their
super so that they can't pay compensation to their victims
and that ends up falling on the taxpayer.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Follow Harry Oh wow, Okay, there's.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Also Harrison James, and there's a few other guys, he's
got on there that basically doing a campaign which will
stop pedophiles from having good character references in court because
they're not good characters, right and.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Good No, especially repeat offenders like they do not deserve
that opportunity on a pre sentence to be given the
justification by a magistrate or judge to why they should
be downgraded or why they just let's be honest. What
is the maximum sentence for a sexual offender?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
God, I don't even. I don't even that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Actually, I can tell you. I can tell you what
I was told. I was looking at twenty five years
for importation of three kilos. But hey, what what does
three sexual offenses of a pedophile? What does that get him?
It won't getting twenty five years. I can assure you.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
It doesn't matter, because I know I was looking at
this recently and I'm pretty sure for certain, Like you know,
if there's penetration involved and whatnot, there's different you know,
there's different ones. But I can tell you now, whatever
the maximum is, they're not getting it. The norm for me,
for what I always saw was three years on the
(35:18):
top and fourteen months on the bottom. That was the norm.
And that and that was.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And that's automatic parole too.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, and they get the parole because there's like I said.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
It's automatic behaved they're going to that falls into the
automatic parole category.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Though, Yeah, I know exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
And then they've under two years.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, and they get out and start their lives and
live their lives happy, while you know their victims are
living with a lifetime of trauma and no therapy and
no resources and no assistance and no help.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
What's your page, mell on Instagram and in your socials?
Where can people actually reach out to you? And you know,
I know that you are doing amazing work and I
know that people, if you allow me to say this,
can communicate and reach out to you and seek help
and you can direct them into some fantastic connections that
(36:08):
will assist. And we won't go into naming all of
them here because there is no.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Really good that you asked that because I do so
on my page. I'm only on Instagram and YouTube. I
was on TikTok, but I kept getting censored for saying
the word pedophile. So it's mel wat'son official and that's
for Instagram and YouTube. If you do need resources in
regards to child sexual abuse, like therapy or there's a
(36:36):
couple that I have. You can go into my highlights
under resources and you will find a bunch there that
I constantly update, so have a look there for some
resources you can reach out. I always try my best
to get back to everyone, but I do have three
kids and it is hard to filter through all the messages,
but I do try my best.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Mel what's the plan for the next six months. Give
us an indication on where you see yourself and what
you're achieving and what you want to achieve.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I do have a few things in the works that
I think are going to be very valuable to survivors.
I can't say too much on that, but I do
plan to like I do plan to get in the
media more. I have a few things that are coming
(37:26):
up as well. I do plan to get some get
involved in some campaigns with laws and legislation, and I
am going to manifest this. I do plan with all
my other advocates and FAKA to get a child sex
Offender registry that is available to the public in Australia
in action because it's needed.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
I love that and I can honestly see it in
your eyes. You ain't stopping, and I believe you, and
I really think that. You know, I said something on
one of my pages yesterday. It was and I, you know,
after that little troll thing, and I threw a little
video up that SB did on me, and it talks
about what experience I endured, and I thought, you know
(38:11):
what fuck is? Go and watch this and then see
what the passion is behind what I try to achieve
and do. You can't. You can't. You can't hurt us.
You can't. You can't take anything from us. You can't
all right, lock us up? I can you find us?
Do this abuse us? So you can't break us. We've
been broken to the point that you're you're you're in
(38:34):
peace is beyond beyond. You can't you know the strength
that we as survivors, and all you survivors out there
that are listening to this, hold your head up. I'd
be proud of who you are, absolutely, and all of
you out there that are feeling that you may want
to open up, just do it. Open up. There's nothing
wrong with coming forward and speaking up about you are
(38:57):
being a survivor of any sexual abuse, whether it be family, friend, institutional,
whatever it is. And people like you are the ones
that are going to be able to help these wonderful
people out there to find peace within themselves. We never
ever forget it. I will never forgive. I just you know,
I'm a humble man, I'm a religious. Look, I love life,
(39:19):
I love my fam but I wouldn't and look, and
I've said it, I sat in the yard for years
waiting for one of those fucking dogs to walk through.
I was going to stab him to death on the spot.
It was just something in beat. I'm thank god it
never happened because I would never have my children today,
and I'd be they would have won. They would have won,
you know. So, but I do have a voice, and
I have successfully brought justice to some of those perpetrators
(39:43):
through my voice and the actions that I've taken. And
I won't say through what organizations and so on, because yeah,
it's just unnecessary. I'll leave that up to you to
talk to people away from this podcast. So, guys, I'm
gonna ask mel you this question, and I do ask
of it of every guest. I don't know whether you've
(40:04):
heard this, but for those that are right now listening
to this, that are in deep thought that are survivors
that are truly struggling to speak out. What advice would
you give?
Speaker 1 (40:16):
I was going to add to what you said before.
Do not be afraid to tell your story. Remember that
your silence protects them and it feels it's hard to
come forward, and I understand that, and you know you're
scared of everything. But honestly tell your story because it's
the most freeing, healing thing that you can do for yourself.
(40:39):
And just remember that if you do open up to
someone and they invalidate you, and you know, they say
something to you that makes you feel like you know
it was your fault or whatnot, or they don't believe you,
that's on them. That's that's a projection of them. That's
not on you. Don't stop telling your story because of that,
and don't shut up because of that. Just keep doing it.
Remember you're helping so many people, and you're freaking strong.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
You are strong. We are strong, and together we are unbeatable.
And you know, I can't thank you enough. I can't
thank you enough for joining me this evening. And you
know you are a mum of three beautiful children and
you've given your time to share and you've really put
yourself out there, so you know, like for everybody out
there that's heard me say it a hundred times during
(41:25):
this interview, I mean it every word. You need to
be commended for the work you're doing and for your
bravery and your honesty. And let's let me ask you,
please come back and let us help in any way
possible to grow what you're trying to grow. I'll support you, guys,
(41:46):
I will do it through my media's and guys, if
you're out there and you let's work together. The more
of us that actually use our voice and our power
through our medias and platforms and make the noise, the
better opportunity we have of healing people and bringing justice
to these perpetrators. Mel Watson an amazing woman. Stay strong,
(42:06):
keep fighting believing what you're believing in. It is absolutely awesome.
And please come back to the clink.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I will not be a stranger. And thank you so
much for opening your platform up to this conversation. And
I'm so honored to be here.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
It's been my honor. And guys, there you have it,
Mel Watson. What a story. We will hear more from
her in time. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. It
has been a tough one and from both of us,
please be very kind to yourself. It is a very
triggering episode and reach out if you need to help.
There's lots of people out there that you can contact,
(42:44):
Mel being one of them, and she has left her
details there and look, I'm always open to a conversation personally.
Email me, message me, I'm there. I'll get back to you.
Thank you very much for you listening to this episode.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Best, don't try and make you off the book for
the record. You ain't trying to grow downy stuff for
you for the record, live on me going all the
way for the record. Ain't trying to link, no time
to waste all that for.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
The record, for the record. H for the for the record,
for the record, for the record, for the record.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, m hm hm
Approache Production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey guys, Sima here from the Clink. While we take
a short break over the Christmas period, we're going to
drop a couple of episodes, some of our favorite of
twenty twenty four, so you don't miss out and can
continue following the Clink. This episode has been proudly brought
to you by our longtime sponsored supporters Sideway Surf. Thank
you for all your support for the record.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Don't try and make you out comfortable, Photo Record. You
ain't trying world and stand for your photo record. Lab
on me going hard to work, photo Record. Ain't trying
to link, no chrying to wish stuff for the record,
for the record, for the for the record, for the
red already photo racket. Don't try and make you out comfortable.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Welcome back to the clean comparts to a French chat
with Mel Watson. We kick off with Mel sharing her
experiences as a prison guard in one of Australia's toughest jails.
I'm going to thank you for being so open and
vulnerable at the moment about this, and I know it's
going to ruffle ruffle some feathers, and I frankly don't
give a fuck because I'm going to tell you why
(01:33):
the ship that we go through as inmates, and look, okay,
the Karens out there are going to go, oh, yes,
but you put yourself in jail. Yeah, all right, Well,
so well you're in jail, you're doing your time. Does
that mean you need to be crucified whilst you're in jail?
Does that mean you need to be treated like an
animal whilst you're in jail? The abuse that you endure
whilst you're in jail, the levels that they take things
(01:58):
to in excess that are over and beyond. What needs
to happen is beyond, and we as the inmates at
that stage get told to put in a blue and
at the end of the day, you're not going to
tell on anyone because you're not a dog. So therefore,
if you were to write a statement against a crema,
(02:18):
whether you write a statement against a screw, either way,
you're a dog. It's as simple as that. So we
live with it. It becomes something that is so common
and so regular. You are somebody whom I want to
thank again, because this is the voice that will and
needs to be heard. And I'm proud of you for
(02:41):
having the confidence and the strength to not be fearful
to have this conversation because I know a lot of
people wouldn't, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I already know the organization that I'm speaking out against,
but I don't care because it's just the same as
what I do. Like, I'm not going to protect anyone,
and I'm not going to be silent about some of
the disgusting stuff that goes on in there.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
What stuff did you witness in them? Me while we're
on this topic, because you know, for us, and I
want to say for us, Look, I am well and
truly beyond my offending years. Yes, I'm on Supreme Court
bar for a matter fifteen years ago. So for everybody
out there that wants to have their little poke the
bear you got it, Does that make me a criminal? No?
(03:26):
I am a very very you know, strong believer in
rightfulness and setting things right. And this is why the
Clink is what it is, because it allows us to
have a voice.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yes, I would love for you to tell the people
out there, because people think we're so full of shit
by the time we we said this happened, that happened,
and no one wants.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To know about it. Mel. Please, for the people that
are in them, the men and the women for us
that have been through it, tell our listeners that what
you tell them the truth, No, I will.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Tell I will tell the truth that there is a
lot of power troopers in that job. And there's honestly
a lot of people in that job who should be
wearing green, not blue. And the thing is is that
they do take advantage of their positions. They do punish
people or inmates for things that really are not necessary.
(04:27):
And they do look at all inmates like, you know,
a piece of shit on the bottom of like piece
of freaking gum on the bottom of your shoe like that.
That's how they talk, That's how they look at you.
That's how they treat you. And it's not just you know,
it's not just the officers, it's higher up. They don't
(04:47):
give shit. They sweep everything under the rug. You can't
exactly that, you can't make complaints. Complaints don't go anywhere.
And I'll be honest, I actually put it. I put
that officer on paper, which really destroyed my career there.
But I was already ready to get out of that job,
so it wasn't a problem for me, but for other
(05:07):
people who actually want to speak out and you know,
have things done. Like it's hard. You can't. You can't
speak out in that job.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
We got to put in a mystery bluey and you
know the bluey just gets thrown in the bin.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, no you can't. It's yeah, nothing happens, nothing goes anywhere.
They always make it look like they're doing something, but
they don't. And a lot of the officers do g
up the inmates. That's one thing that not that's not
a conspiracy. It happens a lot. And like I said,
(05:44):
there is good officers in that job, but they don't
stay there forever. And if they are there forever, they've
earned their place, like they've got respect, they're not assholes.
All the stuff that people come out and say, it's
not something that I wouldn't not believe having seen it myself.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
The things that you know, I mean, I can really
go deep into and you will definitely know more than
most the physical abuse that the inmates, like look, yes, okay,
inmates can be very violent and sometimes the squad comes
in and does what needs to be done to certain
inmates with reason.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
People think, so everyone's like, oh, the squad, this the
squad that like their training is like three days.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Oh, we get locked down while they train and have
to listen to them, like I remember, I remember. You know,
there's no screws. Nothing gets done because it's training days.
So the inmates don't get the shower, they don't get
the phone calls, they don't get their mail, they don't
get shit. You just stay locked in all day while
the screws are out there with the dog's bark and
marching around the yard being fucking superheroes, playing fucking dress ups.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's the same when they're short staffed. If you're short
staff everyone's locked in.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well, it's true, and spend you spend a lot of
time in segro. First thing they do is they pull
the segro screws out, you know what I mean. And
we've sat for days, days and days. Silver Water was
just renowned for it.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, no, it's so true. I was always, you know,
very respectful with inmates. I wanted to just go home
at the end of the day. I'm not there to
start ship. I'm not there to get into a use
of force. I've never had a use of force because
I've never needed to. And like the the thing in
that job is it's your communication and the way you talk.
(07:31):
Is what gets you places, is what gets you respect,
is what is what you know, de escalates situations. But
there's a lot of people that just won't do that.
And there's a lot of inmates who would rather have
the use of force because it's it's kind of like
a trophy for them. I guess you know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
The thing is too we get to have a crack
at is that's the bottom line. We're going to We're
going to get pumped. We know that we're going to
get pumped because how how does any one man defend
himself against you know, a bunch of steroid munching you know,
like a lot of island. There's a lot of big,
big men, you know, like and I'm one hundred and
forty one hundred and fifty kilo six foot beasts and
(08:12):
that's small, you know, with battleshields and everything else, battons
and whatever else, you're not gonna win. But if you
get one of them, it's a win, you know, and
it is it's like, well, run in on me. I'm
fuck I remember getting rended Bathust was the worse for
it no.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Good in their groups. But you know what, the females
can be mouthy as well. When they know they've got
all the boys around them.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
They're fuckheads. They're they're cocky, little fuckheads. They shits their
and they pick and pick and pick, and then the
boys come running in behind them.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And if the boys weren't there, telling you now, they
wouldn't be doing that, not at all. A lot of
people are scared in that job. They're not tough, like
as tough as you think. They're only tough because they've
got each other, that's it. But on their own, these
people are scared. These people are not you know, they're
(09:04):
not as They're not as big as they make themselves
out to be. And I'm not, I'm not. I'm not
bashing all of them because like I said, they're really
are some beautiful, beautiful officers in that job. But I
still ends to this day. But majority of them I
would never meet with outside of work. Majority of them, yeah,
I would never trust, never ever trust an officer.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I'm going to ask you this, and I want this
cleaned up a little bit because this is this is
a presumption and we always get blamed and look, all right,
there's certain things that happen on visits. There's certain ways
that things enter the prison that are you know, prohibited
and what have you. And I know for a fact
(09:48):
that there's definitely officers in there that have assisted well
and truly and over and beyond over the years. Of course, no, no,
I just you've got to remember these wonderful people that
listen to these podcasts. A lot of people are quite naive.
And I say that with respect, Please don't take that
the heart. But they don't know, and everybody assumes. And
(10:09):
the assumption is it's the wife, it's the girlfriend, it's
the boyfriend, it's the friend, it's this, it's that. Let
me tell you the amount of drugs and contraband mobile phones. Fuck,
we used to pay, We used to pay a screw
and I won't even go into detail. He got busted, right,
and this is back back in the day at Long Bay.
He was the activities by our officer for many, many,
(10:32):
many years, okay, and he and his wife both worked there.
They come undone massively. But the amount of money that
they made by bringing in everybody had assex, that had
any cash outside. Everyone had phones. Now, whatever you wanted
was available, more than what you could get on the streets.
(10:52):
And this was not coming in from the families. This
was not the first to be blamed, you know what
I mean, the visit to be stopped, you'd be put
on box visits. This had happened, That had happened because
of allegations. Yeah, but it's a fucking screws that we're
doing it all.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
This is what I will say when COVID happens. Let's
just say that visits were shut down and drugs are
still getting in. How do you know what I mean?
And it's it's not it's not a conspiracy like that
does happen a lot. At the end of the day.
These offices are around, you know, criminals, and eventually you
(11:34):
become part of that environment. So when you when you're
getting bribes with money like you know, not everyone's going
to turn that down, especially if you're in a position
to be able to bring something in like you see.
The thing is is it's it's not it's not hard
to bring something in, but it's not exactly easy. So
the people that are bringing something in, they've got connections somewhere,
(11:58):
or they're in higher positions like a casual. Like when
I was in there, there's no way I could have
brought something in, especially these days.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Two male Like the way that you know, you've got
to enter the prison and what you've got to go
for a scrutinise before you come in. There's got to
be a backdoor and you've got to have, like you said,
a setup. It doesn't just happen.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
No, there's definitely there's definitely ways to get it in,
but it's not exactly easy. And like I said, whoever's
doing it has a lot of knowledge in that job
to be able to get something in. But it's it's
the same. It's there's a lot of things. Everyone thinks that,
like all the officers are innocent, but they're really not.
(12:38):
Just because you have a uniform on doesn't mean shit.
Like I knew heaps of people in jail. I went
to school with a lot of people that I saw
in jail, and like I grew up around that life,
and all of a sudden, I have a uniform on.
That doesn't change what I know or what I've done,
Do you know what I mean? It's the same for officers,
Like it's just a uniform. You can't be under the
(13:01):
impression that anyone in a uniform is just this righteous person,
because I can tell you now, so many in that
job are not the complete opposite.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I think for you, Mail, it probably would have given
you a little bit more credit street credit for those
I guess, and I could be wrong, but I'm just thinking,
you know, you would be street wise, you would understand
and see things differently, You would pick up on different things,
and like you said, you know, you could resolve I guess,
(13:30):
situations a lot better through your communications and your personality
as opposed to someone who hadn't lived that life or
being around that life and just decided, oh I'm just
going to be a screw and come out of a
school and terrorized criminals.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
You know, I think inmates picked up on that energy
as well. Like I was just casual, like I'm just
like I don't give a shit, like as long as
I'm not getting in trouble, and you're not getting in trouble,
Like it's fine, you get what you're entitled to. But
there's so many officers that will dress like even the things,
the littlest things that you're entitled to that are you know,
(14:05):
your right to have in prison, they will take that
away from you. They will punish you. They you know, dull,
and it's the same with officers, like if they don't
like you, they'll ruin your life in that job. And
there's another thing as well, and this is something that
happened to me, but they if you're new in that job, right,
and they want you to prove yourself. But the thing
(14:28):
is is that you can't prove yourself in an environment
like that. You have to have like people backing you
because anything, shit can pop off at any moment. And
like when I first started, a senior officer left me
in a wing with about two hundred men, all by myself,
and he just left. There was only two of us,
(14:49):
and he goes, oh, I'll be back and took off.
And I had all these inmates harassing me, and I
was so scared and I was new. It was my
first day. And it was a sweeper who actually came
to me and stood at the door and he said, miss,
I'm not gonna let anyone talk to you. Just keep
doing what you need to do. And everyone left me
alone after that, and this officer came back and he's
just like, oh, you know, how's how's everything going? And
(15:11):
in my head I'm just like, did you do Like
did you do that?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
On perpect you set me up. You purposely did that
to test me. Yeah, yeah, how could you not think
of it any other way?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, And I just thought that's messed up because you know,
at the end of the day, like, I know what,
that's the job I signed up for, but I also
didn't know I was going to be left alone as
a female. And you know, they always they always go
on about, oh, you know your family in blue and
you know, we've all got each other's back, not like
that at all.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
They all want to get you on your back. I
think that's the fucking bottom line. That's not sorry, but
you know, like, fucker wow, that's.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
What the job jobby is just about that. Like you
go to work and it's guys talking about how big
the dicks are, and you know, talking about, oh, I
want to put that girl away, and you know, oh,
just then they're all married, like they've got kids and
they have wives at home, and they're just disgusting. And
the way they talk to women in that job is
just it's a boys club for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Speaking of that type of mannerism and derogatory talk and
things like that, you were working with the sickest of
the sick. Let's talk Let's talk about this because this
is something that you know as a survivor. Pray. Look,
(16:34):
I put you up here, I think for you to
be able to accept that job work around predators. How
you did that, I don't know, but what an amazing
woman you are for doing it. And you know, I
get it now because of the path you're on and
what you're what it is that you're out there doing
daily to achieve to break that cycle and tell the
(16:58):
world the real facts around it. I want our listeners
to truly understand what happens to these sick fucks in there,
and I'm going to call it for what it is.
And you people out there that assume that when you
see it on the news, that this bloke's you know,
had you know. I'm not even going to use certain
words here because it is triggering and it makes me
(17:22):
sick of my blood boil. But let's just say pedophiles
who have a numerous, multiple multiple charges and you know
their their mindsets and their actions and things that they've done,
we all sit out here and go they should get
stabbed and the boys will get them in ja mate,
no one gets shit. You don't get near a fucking pedophile.
(17:43):
And if you do your cop six months straight away
for anything you make. You spit on a dog and
you get six months.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You get more time than they do for sexually abusing
a child. Correct, you get more time for hurting them.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That is facts, that's not there is.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
There is no once in a blue moon you'll hear
someone that just happened across paths got got and it's
not a proper got, it's just a little bit of
a tickle.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, And I always think those sort of ones. You
also got to think where they So I get this
comment all the time. People are like, oh, you know,
big Bubba is going to take care of them, and
I'm like, there's no big Bubba taking care of them. Like,
they are completely separated. There is absolutely no way a
Maine can access them unless an officer set it up.
(18:34):
And officers are not going to do that easily and
lose their job.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
What is it duty of care?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Duty of care? Gosh, they forgot about those words, beauty
of care.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
We have a duty of care to protect everybody.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, you can be in the main and you get
stabbed quick as you walk onto the yard. But you
be a pedophile and you go into jarle and you
get your nice, your nice cuppa in your bed.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, officers have coffees with pedophiles in the wings. Because
they are the most well behaved inmates. That's why they
have the best jobs. They get the most resources. At
Long Bay. They have a music studio, a fully decked
out music studio that no other inmates have. And how
many other ones could benefit from something like music therapy,
for example, But that's what they have. And they even
(19:24):
get like a little bit of extra time out they
they are the most well behaved because and that that
comes with their character. They're grooming, you know. Ever, they're cunning,
but to the to the normal person, they look friendly.
They look you know, intelligent, articulate, like they're just lovely people.
But that's not who they are. It's just what you see.
(19:46):
And so people have no problem interacting with them and
talking to them because they talk to you like a
friendly neighbor. I hate us talking to.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Can you can you just just take us back for
a sec right, because it's somebody whom and many of
us listen have been in the system. So okay, doors
are cracked, it's muster. What starts were there for a
day in this sick pit of pedophiles, the strict protection.
(20:15):
What's their day constructed of? Because to me, I have
this vision of them all just sitting around sipping lattes,
talking about how they've done their crimes, and you know
how excited they are and educating each other how to
better systems to reoffend.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah. Look, to be honest, I was lucky enough to
not have to so I had most of my dealings
with them in the courts. I was lucky enough to
only have, you know, a few less than a handful
of moments where I was in the wings with them,
and this was more so during my training. But they
(20:51):
are out all together, they go into each other's cells.
They they're just sitting around talking to each other. They
have a nice little courtyard in one of their rehabilitation.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Units or with flourish and people.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
It's lovely, a nice little place to have coffy. And
you know they have psychologists group meetings that offices are
not allowed to sit in. But you know that they're
talking about their crimes and people think that they're remorseful
and sorry. When I was working in the courts, for example,
I was taking all my whole day was filled with
(21:26):
child sexual abuse cases. That's how bad it is. And
I would take them to court. They're victims who some
of them were like males in their forties who were
breaking down on the stand crying, and then I would
take them out for lunch, like just out of the courtroom,
down to their cells and they're just like, oh, how's
(21:47):
your day. Oh I love the cookies here, like just
no care at all, no remorse, no nothing, And like
I get you know, I get a lot of comments
of people who actually sympathize with them and protect them,
and they're like, oh yeah I.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Do, and they're like in your pages, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yes, and they're like, oh, well, they shouldn't be punished
in prison. They've done their time. And I'm like fourteen
months for sexually abusing child, which is I.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Did a post on my ankle bracelet this week. Are
real and I got trolled to the shit house because
I have an ankle. I'm scum, I am fucking I'm
a criminal. There's a reason this and that sucked in
deal with it all the bullshit and I'm just proble
fuck Like, oh I god hammered.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
They didn't get ankle bracelets. They get they literally get
out like after fourteen months. That was that was the
norm for the And this is this is one thing
I would take up, you know, and I'm not justifying
anyone's crimes, but I would take up drug dealers or
anyone who's committed like you know, tax fraud or whatever.
You know, they're getting up to twenty years. And then
I would take a pedophile. I took. I took one
(22:54):
who he raped thirty seven kids and he got fourteen
months on parole because my goodness, because he was a
pari a priest and he is defense argued that he
had still done a lot of good for the community.
He was Actually he didn't get an ankle bracelet.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Oh that's see, that's you've just given us one one
case of thousands.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
No, And that was the thing. I really enjoyed working
at the courts because I feel like that's where I
learned a lot about how they operate and just the damage.
Like as being a survivor myself, I already know, but
I also, you know, I felt very alone in that.
I felt like, oh, you know, I'm the only one.
But then seeing how common it is and just what
(23:45):
they do and the lengths they go to and then
seeing them after court And I always say that after
court or in prison is when you see a pedophile
in their real Like that's the real then, because they're
not trying to prove anything to police, they're not trying
to look good on paper, like that's who they are.
And they're not remorseful, and so many people are like, oh,
(24:05):
you know, are they sorry and this and that. I'm like,
absolutely freaking not. I've never seen one say sorry. I've
never seen one take accountability. They always make excuses and
then they get the best resources in prison, which just
makes no sense to me because it's not a punishment
for them. Everyone thinks that prison is a punishment for them.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It's it's a school. It's a school to better their crimes.
That's all it is.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
It's a holiday camp for pedophiles, It's what it is,
and they love it and they teach each other to
come out and access you know, see sam like child
sexual abuse material. They just it's just people are so
oblivious and they are just getting so much more resources
(24:50):
and protection than anyone else. And these resources would benefit
survivors and should go to survivor.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And we need more of it. We truly, do you
know there's not enough out there to help us.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Absolutely, there's lots for them. There's lots of and everyone's like, oh,
you know, but we need to rehabilitate them. They cannot
be rehabilitated. And I will say that I don't care.
They cannot be rehabilitated, and I don't want them rehabilitated.
I don't want them coming back out to the community
ill after section.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I like this one mal where you get the Karens
and it's like it's an illness, it's a newness. The poor,
the poor things, the things that happened to them when
they were children and they didn't know any better, and
they've just you know, this is damn and this is
who they are. Go fuck yourself. You and I are
both survivors. And so there's probably half the people will listening,
(25:42):
and I can guarantee you one million percent. None of
us are fucking pedophiles.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Absolutely. I get so many of those people.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Oh my blood boils.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I had a psycho. Okay, I'm going to say this
all right, and I don't go for it. I don't
care who I offend. Psychologists in the prisons are pedophile sympathizers,
and they they are they will they think that they
can fix them and they cannot be fixed. And I
get some of them who come on and DM me,
(26:12):
like on Instagram and be like, oh, you're grooming everyone
against pedophiles, and I'm like, is another point, Like who
wouldn't be against the pedophile? But in prison they think
and you know, I get them coming on and they're like, oh,
but in their sessions with like you know, I've had
sessions with them in prison and they're sorry, and you know,
they've had really hard childhoods. And I'm like, but of
(26:33):
course they're telling you that because you're putting that on
paper that goes towards court that helps with their sentencing.
Of course they're going to different story.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
The man, it's a sympath it's a sympathize, a sympathetic
you know, way of justifying their hideous crimes and the
sickening acts that they do.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
It's just funny that there's people that are against it. Like,
I didn't think that that was a thing until I
started my page, and I get you know, I get
a fair share of haters, and I'm just like, you
know what, I couldn't give a shit about your opinion
because you stick up for people who get off over
you know, sexually abusing a child for their own sexual gratification.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Like bite me, like ill, I'll get hammered on my
page because or the media or grab them. They'll say
X bikey enforcer, X, bikey drug dealer X this X
that you know and absolutely try and belittle me in
every possible And I'd say the bloke that rode across
Australia that started a national charity that helped thousands of people,
that writes you know, did a fantastic job and started
(27:33):
a podcast like the Creditation. Not that I'm asking for it,
but I'm just saying the way that they'll manipulate things
and words that they choose yet will show sympathy for
a dirty, rotten, filthy pedophile. And I will not take
a backward step on any word relating to this fucking
(27:53):
scum of the earth.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah no, the don't care. Our government protects pedophiles.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Our just hard for them are fucking pedophiles themselves.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
You know, we're doing a sex offender registry and we
look at Cumra.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
Look at Kumbra gile, a full jile full of fucking
white collar criminals that are mainly pedophiles and fraudsters, and
they all fucking hang out.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's the norm because they go for positions of power
to get like gain the trusts of parents and gain
the trust of children. And that's how they do it.
It's not it's not a conspiracy. They really do go
for positions of power. There's judges that have come out,
as you know, sexually abusing children and they were putting
away pedophiles and giving them like little sentences, do you
(28:41):
know what I mean. So it's yeah, it's so bad.
And and even like with everything that we try to do,
like there's so many advocates that are working to get
legislation in place to actually the lives of pedophiles harder,
and the politicians won't even sit with you. They won't
they bite back. And we've had you know, we're trying
(29:01):
to do a child's sex offender registry. There's a couple
of us advocates.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Just just just slow down on that one because this
is a really important part of this conversation and something
that I really feel needs to be explained so you
will move away from the work that you did within
we've got a fairly good idea of you know, your
knowledge and experience and how traumatic it was and the
realities of what truly goes on in the jail systems.
(29:29):
I mean, I think we can all agree to that
and thank you for your honesty. Corrupt you've well, you've
stepped away from that with a beautiful passion though, and
credit to you once again because your experience and the
way that you've taken you as a survivor, and then
your experience of working firsthand around these oh look at
(29:51):
me start. I can't even use the word just fucking scum.
You you now have created a very strong platform. You're
you're you're building a team of like minded people, yes,
or with the great passion of achieving some wonderful things
(30:13):
to protect protect our children, protect our people from these
wonderful fucking you know, white collar and underprivileged pedophiles that
we are pet. We're pet because you know poor them. Yeah, like,
fuck up, I just can't just you know what, this
(30:35):
is probably going to want to be one of the
toughest episodes for people to listen to in realization, and
I'm not going to apologize at any stage of Nora,
are you for anything? That we're speaking about today. So
now you are working tirelessly, you really are, and doing
a fantastic job. And it's a tough job. And as
you said, you know you're getting a lot of a
(30:56):
lot of walls put up barriers. This is something that
many people have tried to achieve before, and a lot
of people have given up on because it is a
tough road. How's it going for you? And tell us
about what you're doing, and how do we know how
to contact? Where can people find this? Give us all
the insight you.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
So everyone can follow FACA. Now. FACA is amazing. They're
actually pushing for a child sex offender registry that a
couple of US advocates are on board for. We've sent
emails to politicians, We've told them what it's about. We
didn't give them a time or a date, but they
(31:36):
rejected us and said that they are fully booked and
they can't sit with us, even though we didn't give
them a time. But you know what, we're not going
to stop. I think this year especially, there's so many
amazing advocates that are doing just doing God's work, honestly,
and I have to I'm very very proud of so
(32:00):
many of these survivor advocates and the work that they're
doing and the team that we have, because I think
that we're just so we're like stronger in numbers, and
you know, we're not gonna let the government tell us
that we can't because you know, we have to. We
have to fight. We have to be a voice for everyone.
(32:21):
We have to be a voice for people who haven't
made it to this day because of what's happened. We
have to be a voice for people who are still
living in silence. And the more people that are speaking
out and working together, the better. I'm not one to
do this alone. Like you know, I could just do
this for clout and be like, oh, you know, this
is all about me and my story and whatnot. But
I love working with everyone. I love teaming up with
(32:42):
people because we all have the same passion and the
same goal and like so.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I can see it in the way you're like, like
you literally light up each time you speak about it,
and you know, being a survivor yourself, I find that
amazing that you're able to just your pure passion and
it shows Yeah, and that's huge. You know, you've got
no ulterior motive other than to do good.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, I think a lot of it just came from
just seeing the damage I've done to myself and then
seeing the damage it's done to so many people, and
I'm just like and then seeing in the prison system
how well looked after they are, and then seeing in
the justice system how lenient, you know, the judges are
towards them in comparison to other crimes. And I'm just
(33:26):
not going to stand for it anymore. Like, you know,
if people are gonna have a problem with it, I
don't care, because at least the truth is getting out
there and we have to do something about it. And
it takes all of us, like everyone has to come
together to do something. So you guys can stay focused
on what I'm doing and what we're all doing. Follow Packer.
(33:47):
Follow Andrew Carpenter because he is a lawyer that does
amazing work and he's got a petition going through that is,
you know, stops pedophiles from hiding their assets in their
super so that they can't pay compensation to their victims
and that ends up falling on the taxpayer.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Follow Harry Oh wow, Okay, there's.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Also Harrison James, and there's a few other guys, he's
got on there that basically doing a campaign which will
stop pedophiles from having good character references in court because
they're not good characters, right and.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Good No, especially repeat offenders like they do not deserve
that opportunity on a pre sentence to be given the
justification by a magistrate or judge to why they should
be downgraded or why they just let's be honest. What
is the maximum sentence for a sexual offender?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
God, I don't even. I don't even that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Actually, I can tell you. I can tell you what
I was told. I was looking at twenty five years
for importation of three kilos. But hey, what what does
three sexual offenses of a pedophile? What does that get him?
It won't getting twenty five years. I can assure you.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
It doesn't matter, because I know I was looking at
this recently and I'm pretty sure for certain, Like you know,
if there's penetration involved and whatnot, there's different you know,
there's different ones. But I can tell you now, whatever
the maximum is, they're not getting it. The norm for me,
for what I always saw was three years on the
(35:18):
top and fourteen months on the bottom. That was the norm.
And that and that was.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And that's automatic parole too.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, and they get the parole because there's like I said.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
It's automatic behaved they're going to that falls into the
automatic parole category.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Though, Yeah, I know exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
And then they've under two years.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, and they get out and start their lives and
live their lives happy, while you know their victims are
living with a lifetime of trauma and no therapy and
no resources and no assistance and no help.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
What's your page, mell on Instagram and in your socials?
Where can people actually reach out to you? And you know,
I know that you are doing amazing work and I
know that people, if you allow me to say this,
can communicate and reach out to you and seek help
and you can direct them into some fantastic connections that
(36:08):
will assist. And we won't go into naming all of
them here because there is no.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Really good that you asked that because I do so
on my page. I'm only on Instagram and YouTube. I
was on TikTok, but I kept getting censored for saying
the word pedophile. So it's mel wat'son official and that's
for Instagram and YouTube. If you do need resources in
regards to child sexual abuse, like therapy or there's a
(36:36):
couple that I have. You can go into my highlights
under resources and you will find a bunch there that
I constantly update, so have a look there for some
resources you can reach out. I always try my best
to get back to everyone, but I do have three
kids and it is hard to filter through all the messages,
but I do try my best.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Mel what's the plan for the next six months. Give
us an indication on where you see yourself and what
you're achieving and what you want to achieve.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I do have a few things in the works that
I think are going to be very valuable to survivors.
I can't say too much on that, but I do
plan to like I do plan to get in the
media more. I have a few things that are coming
(37:26):
up as well. I do plan to get some get
involved in some campaigns with laws and legislation, and I
am going to manifest this. I do plan with all
my other advocates and FAKA to get a child sex
Offender registry that is available to the public in Australia
in action because it's needed.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
I love that and I can honestly see it in
your eyes. You ain't stopping, and I believe you, and
I really think that. You know, I said something on
one of my pages yesterday. It was and I, you know,
after that little troll thing, and I threw a little
video up that SB did on me, and it talks
about what experience I endured, and I thought, you know
(38:11):
what fuck is? Go and watch this and then see
what the passion is behind what I try to achieve
and do. You can't. You can't. You can't hurt us.
You can't. You can't take anything from us. You can't
all right, lock us up? I can you find us?
Do this abuse us? So you can't break us. We've
been broken to the point that you're you're you're in
(38:34):
peace is beyond beyond. You can't you know the strength
that we as survivors, and all you survivors out there
that are listening to this, hold your head up. I'd
be proud of who you are, absolutely, and all of
you out there that are feeling that you may want
to open up, just do it. Open up. There's nothing
wrong with coming forward and speaking up about you are
(38:57):
being a survivor of any sexual abuse, whether it be family, friend, institutional,
whatever it is. And people like you are the ones
that are going to be able to help these wonderful
people out there to find peace within themselves. We never
ever forget it. I will never forgive. I just you know,
I'm a humble man, I'm a religious. Look, I love life,
(39:19):
I love my fam but I wouldn't and look, and
I've said it, I sat in the yard for years
waiting for one of those fucking dogs to walk through.
I was going to stab him to death on the spot.
It was just something in beat. I'm thank god it
never happened because I would never have my children today,
and I'd be they would have won. They would have won,
you know. So, but I do have a voice, and
I have successfully brought justice to some of those perpetrators
(39:43):
through my voice and the actions that I've taken. And
I won't say through what organizations and so on, because yeah,
it's just unnecessary. I'll leave that up to you to
talk to people away from this podcast. So, guys, I'm
gonna ask mel you this question, and I do ask
of it of every guest. I don't know whether you've
(40:04):
heard this, but for those that are right now listening
to this, that are in deep thought that are survivors
that are truly struggling to speak out. What advice would
you give?
Speaker 1 (40:16):
I was going to add to what you said before.
Do not be afraid to tell your story. Remember that
your silence protects them and it feels it's hard to
come forward, and I understand that, and you know you're
scared of everything. But honestly tell your story because it's
the most freeing, healing thing that you can do for yourself.
(40:39):
And just remember that if you do open up to
someone and they invalidate you, and you know, they say
something to you that makes you feel like you know
it was your fault or whatnot, or they don't believe you,
that's on them. That's that's a projection of them. That's
not on you. Don't stop telling your story because of that,
and don't shut up because of that. Just keep doing it.
Remember you're helping so many people, and you're freaking strong.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
You are strong. We are strong, and together we are unbeatable.
And you know, I can't thank you enough. I can't
thank you enough for joining me this evening. And you
know you are a mum of three beautiful children and
you've given your time to share and you've really put
yourself out there, so you know, like for everybody out
there that's heard me say it a hundred times during
(41:25):
this interview, I mean it every word. You need to
be commended for the work you're doing and for your
bravery and your honesty. And let's let me ask you,
please come back and let us help in any way
possible to grow what you're trying to grow. I'll support you, guys,
(41:46):
I will do it through my media's and guys, if
you're out there and you let's work together. The more
of us that actually use our voice and our power
through our medias and platforms and make the noise, the
better opportunity we have of healing people and bringing justice
to these perpetrators. Mel Watson an amazing woman. Stay strong,
(42:06):
keep fighting believing what you're believing in. It is absolutely awesome.
And please come back to the clink.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I will not be a stranger. And thank you so
much for opening your platform up to this conversation. And
I'm so honored to be here.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
It's been my honor. And guys, there you have it,
Mel Watson. What a story. We will hear more from
her in time. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. It
has been a tough one and from both of us,
please be very kind to yourself. It is a very
triggering episode and reach out if you need to help.
There's lots of people out there that you can contact,
(42:44):
Mel being one of them, and she has left her
details there and look, I'm always open to a conversation personally.
Email me, message me, I'm there. I'll get back to you.
Thank you very much for you listening to this episode.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Best, don't try and make you off the book for
the record. You ain't trying to grow downy stuff for
you for the record, live on me going all the
way for the record. Ain't trying to link, no time
to waste all that for.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
The record, for the record. H for the for the record,
for the record, for the record, for the record.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, m hm hm
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