SYNOPSIS

Former homicide detective Gary Jubelin spent 34 years locking up murderers, gang leaders and rapists. He didn’t pay much mind to what happened to them once they went to prison.

But then an old friend — an ex-prisoner — told him, “If you treat prisoners like animals, that’s what they’ll become. And one day they’ll be released.”

“As a detective, I would never have thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be advocating for prison reform. But my eyes have been opened. If reoffending is reduced, so is crime and that makes society a better place. Less people reoffending means less victims of crimes. Everyone wins,” says Gary.

In the words of Breaking Badness Executive Producer, Dan Box, “This is a confronting, honest, heartfelt podcast. It’s changed the way that Gary thinks about crime and punishment, and will change the way its listeners think as well.”

WHAT WE DID

News Corp approached Audiocraft with an extraordinary proposition — they had been granted unprecedented access to one of Australia’s most controversial prisons, and they were looking for a production partner to make the most of it.

In journalism, access is everything. So the opportunity to spend two weeks over two reporting trips inside NSW’s Macquarie Correctional Facility is one no production company would have turned down. To that end, Audiocraft was extremely grateful to Gary, whose pedigree as a former detective and current host of top-rating podcast I Catch Killers is what granted us a key to the inside.

This was also an extraordinary opportunity to reach a mainstream audience with a story that challenges most people’s views on crime and punishment.

Macquarie is ground zero for a radical experiment. At this prison, staff treat inmates with respect. In turn, inmates treat staff with respect — and no one gets stabbed.

At least, that’s what we were told ahead of going inside. We didn’t know what we would find once we got there — or even if anyone would talk to us.

Gaining the trust of inmates and staff was not easy. The spectre of the media in general and an ex-cop in particular meant we needed to tread very carefully.

Macquarie is right next door to Wellington Correctional Facility, a traditional prison, and we went in there too. In the end, we managed to negotiate interviews with some of the most notorious inmates. We also spoke with staff, and with inmates’ families and their victims.

Corrective Services is in crisis: prisons are running out of beds, staff turnover is relentless, and inmate reoffending rates continue to hover around 50%. To that end, Breaking Badness looks to the past — it dives into the inmates’ murky, dark, complex backstories — but it also looks ahead, to a future where ‘corrective services’ might one day live up to its namesake.

CREDITS

Publisher: News Corp

Host: Gary Jubelin

Producer: Marcus Costello

Sound Designer and Mix: Andrea Thiis-Evensen

Executive Producer (Audiocraft): Kate Montague

Executive Producer (News Corp): Dan Box