[Music]
as a filmmaker I’m always drawn to
stories about women and transformation
so when I heard about a new program
being launched in the Adelaide women’s
prison where prisoners were signing up
to foster retired greyhounds I just knew
I have to get in there and make a film
about it tonight
I’m here with retired racers is steve-o
and Rose steve-o and Rose were born into
kennels never knowing the sights and
sounds of life beyond the track they
were trained only to chase
so until recently they didn’t know their
name how to take food from someone’s
hand or even how to walk up steps the
prisoners have just eight weeks to learn
how to transform these institutionalized
races into house friendly pets if the
prisoners can’t make it work
the dogs face an uncertain future and
could even be euthanized I wanted to
find out whether the women and the dogs
could work together to create a second
chance at life and to my surprise the
Adelaide women’s prison said yes I could
go into the prison alone with my camera
for four months to follow the stories of
four women and medics and that’s about
the time I started to freak out I had
just spent the last 12 months convincing
everyone from the prison to the ABC to
my husband that I could go into the
prison and make this incredibly
inspiring film where the women and the
dogs fall in love what if I get in there
and there’s just a bunch of women
sitting around padding dogs and nothing
happens and what if the prisoners don’t
like me I don’t even have any tattoos
Wow what do I know about prisons
absolutely nothing my only frame of
reference was orange is the new black
and it was then I remembered I don’t
even like dogs I only like Siamese cats
and anyone who knows me knows that about
me this could be a disaster but then I
sucked up all my courage and went along
for the first day of shoot and I met the
prisoners and this changed everything
there you go I’ve never really
experienced unconditional love I think
that’s why dogs are perfect because
especially in here there’s some women
and me included who’ve done some really
bad things but we’re not bad people and
the dog knows that we’re not bad people
[Music]
they come in knowing absolutely nothing
class rice today was a selfish
motherfucker and that’s a reflection of
me as a mother being selfish to my kids
I’ve got post-traumatic stress disorder
from being in violent relationships pull
our weight off the anchor I know my
place in here I go out there and I just
get lost and you know what am i a 60
year old junkie what would you’ve done
differently if you had your chance
I’ll return
I have a ten-year-old daughter and I
hope
[Music]
I messed up in the outside and I won’t
never the other payer back
[Music]
one of the most surprising things about
making the film in the prism was that I
really struggled to see the women in
there as criminals yes they have lots of
tattoos but to me they were kind funny
smart honest articulate and they had
incredible insight into themselves as
their offending they welcomed me into
their world and they trusted me with
their stories I began to see their very
unique position that I was in I wasn’t a
social worker a lawyer or a correctional
officer my only purpose for being there
was to listen and my camera became a
tool for giving them a voice on the
first day of shoot a new prisoner joined
up to the gray hat team
her name was Deb she had a really fiery
temper but a heart of gold and I liked
to instantly Deb had spent a lot of time
in prison in fact she called it her
second home Deb told me how she would
run away from home when she was just 13
to live on the streets she became a drug
addict at 14 and a mother at 15 in the
prison divin knew her place but on the
outside she told me that she gets lost
she was matched with Scotty he happened
to be the most anxious dog in the
program in the very beginning she
couldn’t even persuade him to leave that
cannot have to go for a walk like Deb
Scotty was institutionalized and as they
hit it off straight away over the next
eight weeks
I saw Deb flourish as a member of the
grey hat team her typical day would
involve getting up every day for morning
count at eight am attending daily dog
obedience classes training and walking
Scottie and helping to manage an eight
dog kennel house Deb was one of eight
women who were in the gray hair team and
they really did become a team they had
each other’s back completely when it
came to the program because they all had
that common goal of making sure that
their dog would
the test prison has the capacity to
harden people but seeing Devin’s gotti
together
dev became loving nurturing and
protective all the things that she
couldn’t be for her kids perhaps while
being in jail Scotty gave Deb a new
sense of purpose and self-confidence
after the eight weeks of living and
training together
Scotty finally passed his big adoption
tests I went to live with a loving
family and Deb was released early from
prison on home detention she was
determined to start a new life for
herself on the outside the prisoners and
the dogs had worked together to create a
second chance at life and my filming was
complete I had the perfect ending or did
I when I tell people I’ve been making a
film in a women’s prison one of the
first things I’ll say is I must have
been so scary
so confronting but the truth is the most
confronting part about this whole
process has been seeing the sorts of
challenges these women are up against
once they get out on the day that Deb
was released from prison all that she
had were the clothes on her back that
she was arrested in which was a problem
in itself because now they were two
sizes too small
going to jail meant that Deb lost her
housing trust home and all of her
possessions were dumped on the outside
Deb has no job which means no reason to
get up early no sense of purpose no
structure routine and no income Deb has
eight children but when she got out of
prison they didn’t want anything to do
with her because they were so angry
about her going back to jail again Deb
has a large community of friends on the
outside but all of them are drug users
so any form of a social life means being
around drugs they’re very reason that
Deb went to prison in the first
place Deb had hoped to foster a
greyhound on the outside because she
loved the program so much but when she
got out of prison and was placed in her
support accommodation they didn’t have
any fencing and they don’t allow dogs so
these factors might help explain why Deb
returned to the prison four times during
her seven months of parole period and
that’s when the real question of being a
documentary filmmaker really kicks in
once you uncover a serious social
problem what sorts of responsibilities
do you have to try to change it and now
that I’ve developed these close
relationships with the women in the film
like Deb how can I best support them now
that the cameras stopped rolling these
are the questions I’m asking myself now
and I’m only just starting to peel back
the layers and search for answers but
one thing certain I set out to make a
film about women and transformation but
it’s really me who’s been transformed by
the experience of making the film and
now I have this film and I’m determined
to do all that I can with it to shine a
light on the stories of these women from
behind bars
women like Deb have got incredible
potential and could be a real asset and
a resource to go out community if will
let them the other piece of news I’d
like to share is that Deb happens to be
here with us tonight and next week I’ll
be adopting my fostering actually in my
first greyhound
Billie thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
as a filmmaker I’m always drawn to
stories about women and transformation
so when I heard about a new program
being launched in the Adelaide women’s
prison where prisoners were signing up
to foster retired greyhounds I just knew
I have to get in there and make a film
about it tonight
I’m here with retired racers is steve-o
and Rose steve-o and Rose were born into
kennels never knowing the sights and
sounds of life beyond the track they
were trained only to chase
so until recently they didn’t know their
name how to take food from someone’s
hand or even how to walk up steps the
prisoners have just eight weeks to learn
how to transform these institutionalized
races into house friendly pets if the
prisoners can’t make it work
the dogs face an uncertain future and
could even be euthanized I wanted to
find out whether the women and the dogs
could work together to create a second
chance at life and to my surprise the
Adelaide women’s prison said yes I could
go into the prison alone with my camera
for four months to follow the stories of
four women and medics and that’s about
the time I started to freak out I had
just spent the last 12 months convincing
everyone from the prison to the ABC to
my husband that I could go into the
prison and make this incredibly
inspiring film where the women and the
dogs fall in love what if I get in there
and there’s just a bunch of women
sitting around padding dogs and nothing
happens and what if the prisoners don’t
like me I don’t even have any tattoos
Wow what do I know about prisons
absolutely nothing my only frame of
reference was orange is the new black
and it was then I remembered I don’t
even like dogs I only like Siamese cats
and anyone who knows me knows that about
me this could be a disaster but then I
sucked up all my courage and went along
for the first day of shoot and I met the
prisoners and this changed everything
there you go I’ve never really
experienced unconditional love I think
that’s why dogs are perfect because
especially in here there’s some women
and me included who’ve done some really
bad things but we’re not bad people and
the dog knows that we’re not bad people
[Music]
they come in knowing absolutely nothing
class rice today was a selfish
motherfucker and that’s a reflection of
me as a mother being selfish to my kids
I’ve got post-traumatic stress disorder
from being in violent relationships pull
our weight off the anchor I know my
place in here I go out there and I just
get lost and you know what am i a 60
year old junkie what would you’ve done
differently if you had your chance
I’ll return
I have a ten-year-old daughter and I
hope
[Music]
I messed up in the outside and I won’t
never the other payer back
[Music]
one of the most surprising things about
making the film in the prism was that I
really struggled to see the women in
there as criminals yes they have lots of
tattoos but to me they were kind funny
smart honest articulate and they had
incredible insight into themselves as
their offending they welcomed me into
their world and they trusted me with
their stories I began to see their very
unique position that I was in I wasn’t a
social worker a lawyer or a correctional
officer my only purpose for being there
was to listen and my camera became a
tool for giving them a voice on the
first day of shoot a new prisoner joined
up to the gray hat team
her name was Deb she had a really fiery
temper but a heart of gold and I liked
to instantly Deb had spent a lot of time
in prison in fact she called it her
second home Deb told me how she would
run away from home when she was just 13
to live on the streets she became a drug
addict at 14 and a mother at 15 in the
prison divin knew her place but on the
outside she told me that she gets lost
she was matched with Scotty he happened
to be the most anxious dog in the
program in the very beginning she
couldn’t even persuade him to leave that
cannot have to go for a walk like Deb
Scotty was institutionalized and as they
hit it off straight away over the next
eight weeks
I saw Deb flourish as a member of the
grey hat team her typical day would
involve getting up every day for morning
count at eight am attending daily dog
obedience classes training and walking
Scottie and helping to manage an eight
dog kennel house Deb was one of eight
women who were in the gray hair team and
they really did become a team they had
each other’s back completely when it
came to the program because they all had
that common goal of making sure that
their dog would
the test prison has the capacity to
harden people but seeing Devin’s gotti
together
dev became loving nurturing and
protective all the things that she
couldn’t be for her kids perhaps while
being in jail Scotty gave Deb a new
sense of purpose and self-confidence
after the eight weeks of living and
training together
Scotty finally passed his big adoption
tests I went to live with a loving
family and Deb was released early from
prison on home detention she was
determined to start a new life for
herself on the outside the prisoners and
the dogs had worked together to create a
second chance at life and my filming was
complete I had the perfect ending or did
I when I tell people I’ve been making a
film in a women’s prison one of the
first things I’ll say is I must have
been so scary
so confronting but the truth is the most
confronting part about this whole
process has been seeing the sorts of
challenges these women are up against
once they get out on the day that Deb
was released from prison all that she
had were the clothes on her back that
she was arrested in which was a problem
in itself because now they were two
sizes too small
going to jail meant that Deb lost her
housing trust home and all of her
possessions were dumped on the outside
Deb has no job which means no reason to
get up early no sense of purpose no
structure routine and no income Deb has
eight children but when she got out of
prison they didn’t want anything to do
with her because they were so angry
about her going back to jail again Deb
has a large community of friends on the
outside but all of them are drug users
so any form of a social life means being
around drugs they’re very reason that
Deb went to prison in the first
place Deb had hoped to foster a
greyhound on the outside because she
loved the program so much but when she
got out of prison and was placed in her
support accommodation they didn’t have
any fencing and they don’t allow dogs so
these factors might help explain why Deb
returned to the prison four times during
her seven months of parole period and
that’s when the real question of being a
documentary filmmaker really kicks in
once you uncover a serious social
problem what sorts of responsibilities
do you have to try to change it and now
that I’ve developed these close
relationships with the women in the film
like Deb how can I best support them now
that the cameras stopped rolling these
are the questions I’m asking myself now
and I’m only just starting to peel back
the layers and search for answers but
one thing certain I set out to make a
film about women and transformation but
it’s really me who’s been transformed by
the experience of making the film and
now I have this film and I’m determined
to do all that I can with it to shine a
light on the stories of these women from
behind bars
women like Deb have got incredible
potential and could be a real asset and
a resource to go out community if will
let them the other piece of news I’d
like to share is that Deb happens to be
here with us tonight and next week I’ll
be adopting my fostering actually in my
first greyhound
Billie thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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