Chopper Unchopped by Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read Page A

natural look most of the time. I have found myself carrying on conversations with myself and the screws and other inmates sometimes catch me at it much to my embarrassment. The worrying thing is that I quite enjoy these personal chats with myself; there is no possible chance of disagreements and I always make a lot of sense.
    I am a bit lucky that the blows to the head I have received over the years have done something to my timing. I can be in jail for years and years and the time doesn’t seem to mean much. It is a bit worrying, but it may have done me a favour.
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    The Australian penal system is a sick, corrupt, drug-infested cesspit of mental illness, perversion and despair where violence is part of daily routine.
    Violence is accepted as part of life inside. The RSPCA would put down animals if they had to suffer the kind of mental and physical torment I’ve seen some of the poor bastards in here go through.
    But hard rules apply behind the bluestone walls. They may be sick and sorry rules, but they are the rules of the wild. The strong rule and the weak cry. The criminal world, both inside and outside jail, is ruled through strength. It is not a democracy.
    In my opinion, the prison system is lost. No government body can rescue it. All ideas have been tried and all have failed. I have always believed that criminals sentenced to penal servitude are a sad waste of manpower. I once wrote to the then Minister of Defence, Mr Jim Killen, putting forward the suggestion of a punishment battalion. It would work along these lines: any convicted male prisoner sentenced to longer than five years, providing he was in fair health, would serve, or could volunteer to serve, his time in a para-military punishment battalion.
    Prisoners from all around Australia would be transferred to the battalion, which would be stationed in outback Northern Territory. Any escape in that heat, with no towns for about 300km, would mean death.
    France once had a punishment battalion. Throughout history, various countries have had punishment battalions. Australia needs a fighting edge, and a punishment battalion would give it one — a savage one, at that.
    I think that such a battalion should be run on strict military lines. There would be no provision for any outside visitors. I believe that under the rules a prisoner would be able to write and receive letters, and could make a phone call when granted permission.
    Corporal punishment, including the use of the birch or cane, would be used. Each man would be given a uniform clearly identifying him as part of the battalion. Each man would be drilled and trained and any breach of standing orders or discipline would mean a sound thrashing with a cane and a day in the hot sun.
    They would be under the training of military personnel and knocked into shape, trained in bush survival, physical fitness and combat. All weapons would be locked away when not needed for training. Any attempt at revolt would result in death before a firing squad. The matter would be heard, not by a civil court, but a punishment battalion court martial.
    Any area where there was a sign of trouble, the government could send the punishment battalion. You may think they would desert — but in the Foreign Legion, desertion meant death from the enemy, or court martial and death if caught by your own side.
    It may sound harsh, but any man who volunteered for the punishment battalion would sign his life over in writing to abide by the rules and regulations.
    When this group was put into action, the natural blood lust would take over, they would know they couldn’t run and hide so they would fight and kill and create chaos and havoc. It would be their only option.
    The Defence Department wrote back saying it was a good idea but was too savage and would cost too much. No doubt they were fobbing me off as just another nut case, which maybe I am.
    However, a battalion of desperate criminally-minded men armed in a combat situation, in a foreign