Pell’s jail diaries detail ‘petty humiliations’, job as roof gardener

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

April 14, 2020

Cardinal George Pell has released excerpts from his prison diary, which discuss aspects of his life in jail including the attitudes of corrections staff, humiliations he endured and his brief job as a gardener.

The diaries, parts of which were published in The Australian newspaper on Tuesday, detail Cardinal Pell’s thoughts and activities during more than 400 days in prison.

The cardinal was last week acquitted of child sex offences and released from Barwon Prison near Geelong.

He wrote that prison staff were “courteous and decent” during his time at the Melbourne Assessment Prison in West Melbourne and at Barwon, but that he had to sometimes endure “petty humiliations” such as wearing handcuffs and being strip-searched.

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