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Your World: The Big House

The Documentary: The Big House: Episode 1

Episode 1

The Big House

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The Big House, Episode 1

A look at the rehabilitation of young Aboriginals in a prison in South Australia

Sharon Mascall follows 18 young Aboriginal men through a new rehabilitation programme at Port Augusta prison in South Australia.

Sharon Mascall follows 18 young men - mostly Aboriginal - who are serving time at Port Augusta prison in South Australia, on the edge of the country's vast Outback. 

To the men featured in the programme, the jail is 'The Big House' - a rite of passage, which has become ingrained in their culture. 

Many Aboriginal men from the desert lands to the north expect to spend time here, at some point in their lives. But The Big House has a new boss - a former military man, who is himself descended from migrant roots.

He is determined to help young men escape criminality, substance abuse and violence. In a first for Port Augusta Prison, Sharon Mascall is granted exclusive access to follow the men as they experience a new rehabilitation programme. 

Unique to Port Augusta, the rehabilitation programme is also being primed for export to other countries in the Asia Pacific region. It includes typical boot-camp training as well as literacy and creative writing work - under the tutelage of the internationally-acclaimed Aboriginal playwright Jared Thomas.

Sharon follows the men as they learn to tell themselves a different story about their past and present, hopefully beginning the process of transforming their future.

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