Hello, and welcome to my blog, where I document my life as a human, photographer, and writer. If you’re joining for the first time, don’t be alarmed by the title of this article. I don’t typically do hard time in the clink due to my poor life choices. I’m a reasonably calm, responsible, and law-abiding citizen with a strong focus on social justice, peace, and ending all violence. However, on this occasion, it was my partner who put me in prison. She had been planning it for some time – especially given that we first met in the very same prison three years ago. There’s no play on words here or subterfuge; despite having never been arrested, I really did meet The Doctor (Doc) in prison. Let’s get to the heart of the criminally delightful mystery!

Let me cast your minds back to the dark days of COVID and the resulting government directives that saw the people of Victoria isolated due to lockdowns. Between March 2020 and October 2021, Melbourne endured six separate lockdown periods totaling 262 days. 262 days at home with no capacity to visit family, friends, or travel. For parents, that meant the agonizing process of homeschooling school-age children—a prison term in itself! Towards the end of the COVID lockdown experience, I was again back on the dating scene. Ironically, I chose to take up online dating while we were still in lockdown. I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. I won’t go into the specifics, but I met someone incredibly unique, brilliant, gorgeous, and totally in sync with my values as a law-abiding citizen. Given we were still facing travel restrictions to prevent the plague from spreading to other Melbournians, we chatted online, by text, and eventually over the phone. It was also necessary as, at the time, Doc was in prison. It turns out that Doc lived at the historical Pentridge Prison in Coburg Victoria.

Pentridge was established in 1851 and was the largest Victorian prison complex throughout the 19th century. Given how solidly Pentridge was constructed to keep the worst of society locked within, its 19th-century structures are mostly intact. The site is massive, and many of the original thick bluestone walls are intact. Most original stone cell blocks, administration buildings, and guard facilities also stand. Over the years, Pentridge became outdated and dilapidated, but it was finally closed in 1997 and sold by the Victorian government. The property changed hands a few times but was mostly left untouched and quickly became rundown and overgrown. However, a developer decided to bring the site back to life. Given the historical and cultural significance of Pentridge and the surrounding grounds, years of careful planning and investigation were carried out by heritage, archeology, architecture, planning, and construction groups. The scale and scope of the project were genuinely massive, considering the need for a delicate approach to working with structures of up to one-meter thick bluestone.

In 2016, Pentridge opened its iron gates to local visitors, and before long, work began filling the tremendous blue stone walls with facilities, shops, restaurants, hotels, and apartments. Long story short, Doc lived at one of the many Pentridge Prison apartment complexes. Lockdowns ended, and travel restrictions eased, and that very same day, I was at Doc’s front door. Aside from the romance and the promise of a bright future together, it was fascinating and awe-inspiring that a place with such a dark and sad history had transformed into unique living spaces for trendy inner-north hipsters. Doc’s row of apartments was nestled between tall, thick, blue-stone walls. Modern yet suitably matching architecture blends into the historical spaces to create extraordinary homes. The surrounding outer walls, gates, guard towers, and countless buildings were in varying stages of renewal and transformation. The site’s cafes, restaurants, shops, a supermarket, and even a cinema became a central hub for locals and tourists. I spent almost a year visiting her at her home in Pentridge – and she often visited mine. We built our knowledge, trust, and love for one another within those stone walls.

Fast-forward to today, and we have just celebrated our third anniversary. Of course, Doc and her two amazing kids have joined our family here in South Yarra. We are the modern-day Brady Bunch, mingling five kids, five cats, and two dogs. To celebrate our anniversary, Doc secretly booked us a night back in prison. One of the many facilities recently built at Pentridge is a tall hotel tower owned by Adina. It offers typical suites suited to tourists and business people. However, Pentridge also offers a boutique hotel experience called The Interlue. Stepping out of the tall glass reception lounge and through a thick bluestone doorway, The Interlude is a hotel stay like no other. The developers have converted the original Pentridge B Division Block into a three-story 19-suite accommodation. Upon entering the building, it’s hard not to gasp at the sudden lack of outside noise – especially after arriving directly from the Brady Residence.

What’s more breathtaking is the quality, consideration, and respect that’s gone into the renovation process. The ground floor is home to a long modern bar and lounge that nestles into the bluestone walls. The bar occupies the central walkway of the ground floor with individual cell doors on either side. To one side, the heavy cell doors remained in place and were carefully covered with a glass pane to protect them. To the other side, the cell doors had been removed, and walkways had been cut between rows of cells to form a lounge area. Keep in mind that a typical B Division cell was only 2 by 3 meters. However, with the joining walls partially removed, the lounge space became open and intimate with soft furnishing and lighting. The remainder of the ground floor featured gallery spaces and original cells for tours. A walkway down to an indoor float pool for hotel guests was at the far end of B Division.

Our short trip from reception to our room was far from quick. We took our time to explore the nooks and crannies and delight at the unexpected elements that made the space so captivating. Our room was on the first floor, accessible by a lift or an iron staircase. The walls of B Division were clean and sparse of adornment, and the wrought iron stair rails were originals. The door to our room was tiny, and we both had to stoop to pass through. Upon entering our cell, we both stood in awe and wonder. Our room comprised four original prison cells, with the walls partially cut away between each. The giant bluestone blocks sat as they had for over 160 years. The entry cell featured a low wardrobe and stand for luggage. To the right, the cell had been converted into a modern bathroom. The lounge space to the left of the entry cell included a long built-in sofa on one side and a bureau on the other. The bureau housed a drawer fridge, kettle, coffee machine, and the usual bottles of wine and stemware. Above the bureau was a large TV. The final cell housed a bed that all but filled the space. It also featured a large TV on the wall for bedtime viewing. The bedroom cell felt like a secret and snug hideaway, given you had to step up onto it.

The walls were the original 60cm thick blue stone, and the ceilings were equally made of brickwork. A small high-set window with thick steel bars in each cell allowed natural light to enter. The space was cozy and not at all suffocating or concerning. And it was so quiet that it was almost like some surreal audio manipulation experience. We sat on the sofa or lay on the bed and stared at the exposed blue stone walls, wondering about the experiences of those imprisoned here decades and centuries before. Even given our past experience living on the Pentridge site, it was surreal, to say the least. We left our room for a stroll around Pentridge and to revisit some of the places we had spent time in the past. Upon returning to our room, we made a picnic dinner of some items from the local stores and watched a movie in bed. We slept solidly and comfortably due to the lack of noise and cozy vibes. Despite a late 1pm checkout, we rose early and headed to the in-house restaurant North&COMMON for our breakfast. The A La Carte menu was exactly what we felt like, and we both enjoyed a big breakfast and freshly brewed coffee. Given we had hours to spare, we walked around Pentridge before returning to our room for a little mid-morning nap. We stopped at the Glass Den for a late lunch on our way home. It’s a cafe built within the original Pentrdige gatehouse, with all but the front facade now encased in glass.

In the past three years I’ve come to know, value, respect, and love Doc as my person. We have a tough gig holding together a blended family of seven humans and seven pets. We wouldn’t exchange being the parents to these adorable idiots for anything in the world. But, now and then, it’s necessary to take a break and enjoy each other’s company and time without someone knocking on the bedroom door, a cat vomiting up a furball, or someone asking if we have any butter left while staring into the fridge. I’m eternally grateful to have Doc in my life and to find mutual joy in experiences such as the night we spent in prison. It’s funny to consider that I met Doc while she lived in a prison, and we were both in government-enforced lockdown, only to later return and celebrate our milestone of love in a prison. If you’re in the Coburg area or looking for a unique experience, I highly recommend checking out Pentridge. Take a stroll on a sunny afternoon, do a ghost tour at night, or book an utterly surreal stay at The Interlude. A little time on the inside will do you the world of good.