This Is What’s Possible

An interview with Keenan Mundine

Keenan Mundine, an Aboriginal man in his thirties, is a co-founder of Deadly Connections, a service supporting Aboriginal people in a wide-ranging way. It’s about the community as a whole. You can read more about their services here. Keenan speaks here about his journey from hardship to the life he wanted. It started with a difficult childhood that morphed into many years in jail. Today, he is a family man who uses his experiences to walk with people from his community towards the lives they want.

Keenan was 14 when he first went into juvenile detention and did many years of jail after that. For a while, Keenan believed that this life was just normal. But then he began to question the information that was passed onto him. That was the clue to changing his world.

He also made the massive decision to pass on the things he found out and to encourage other people to question things, too. He decided to step up and support his community by sharing his experiences. Here are some of the key messages Keenan shared with us during the interview.

1 Things CAN change

When I was in jail, there was a focus on telling me to change my life, but I had never seen anyone do it. There was noone in my world who had actually come from the streets and done as much jail as I had who had actually transformed their life – who had gone from jail to living a life that I would want. I would say ‘Just show me someone! Prove it can be done!’

Now I am here to say to people in jail – ‘I am proof. I am a person who has changed. I am a person who is happy.’

I live my life with people I love. I am husband to a woman I admire and respect and a father to 2 amazing boys.

I proudly speak up for my community. In my work I get to share my transformation with people, talking about how hard it was growing up, going through the criminal justice system, then pulling out of that.

My wife, Carly Stanley, and I founded Deadly Connections. It’s a grassroots Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation (ACCO). We use our experience and knowledge to help people navigate the system. We advocate and support our communities and families in a way that heals and grows the whole community.

I’ve travelled to the other side of the world, and I’ve done it to tell my story and talk about Indigenous rights. I’ve changed my whole life. I’ve built a life I’m proud of. And I’m here to say, it can happen. It does happen.

2 Crime is NOT the easy way out

I’ve learnt that there is no such thing as an easy life. Life is hard. But I also learned that you can choose which kind of ‘hard’ you live.

There’s the hard life that’s about jail and poverty and abuse. And there’s the hard life that is about learning and trying and working to build the life you want.

People are always looking for a way out and that’s fine. It’s good to want to make your life better. But growing up, I was only shown two options – a contract in the construction industry or crime. But there are other ways, too.

I don’t know anyone who ended up with a dream life doing break and enters.

3 Jail is NOT normal. Violence is NOT normal

We are led to feel that it’s normal to be locked up, with everything that goes with that. As an Indigenous person, you get to jail and your family and friends are there, many from your community, so it can feel like a home coming, like that is where you belong.

I was 14 when I first went to juvenile detention and then spent years cycling in and out of jail after that. That’s not normal. It’s not okay to be taken away from your family as a kid and locked up. Most people in Australia don’t live a life of disadvantage, abuse or violence. Why should I have to? Why should you?

4 Your life is NOT over just because you have been in jail

We think that once we have started down that road, there is no going back and no changing. We think there is no point trying to do anything differently. That we will spend most of our lives in jail – a life sentence done a few months or years at a time. We think we have no options, that we have no power to choose.

I’d convinced myself – this is my reality – because I had been given a lot of misinformation. I was told that there was nothing I could do to change my world – that there were no possibilities for someone with a criminal record. I was told no-one cared about me and no-one would give me a break.

But then I started questioning EVERYTHING! I had to wrestle a lot of myths to get where I am.

My experience is that none of that is true. That’s why I do what I do – I want to tell you that you don’t need to believe that jail is the end of the line for you.

You CAN change your story. You can decide to do something different and you can make that happen if you put the work in. You can move on.

Yes, it is hard when you have a record, but it’s not impossible. Just start with questioning things. Start with the idea of possibilities. You can talk to us at Deadly Connections about how you can move forward.

5 People DO care

When you’re in jail you can believe that you are on your own and that no one cares what happens to people in your situation. Jail is very isolating.

Actually, there are many people working to make things better for you. They want to help you. Some shine a light on the criminal justice system and suggest new ways to do things. Others support people in jail or their families at a personal level. Some of them have lived experience themselves. These are people who genuinely care about you.

You are not alone. Ask for help. Use the services that are available to you. Let people help you. You will realise that people really want to help, especially if you are trying to make positive changes in your life. That’s something a lot of people want to get behind.

6 You CAN be an amazing role model

I was helping out at an Indigenous youth program and one of the young guys said to me: “You should be our counsellor.” It really made me stop and think. At first, I just laughed. I thought there was no way I could do that. But as I started to think about what I had to offer, I changed my mind.

I realised that my life experience had value. That was a very important moment for me. It started me on the road to sharing my personal story.

My story helps me connect to people. One of the ways I use it is when I work with Indigenous kids to help guide them away from the jail route. I want them to value and respect themselves. I want them to have choices.

I also use my story when I stand up and speak for my community. I have spoken at dozens of events. I have even spoken in Geneva, Switzerland, to a United Nations Human Rights group about how many Indigenous people are in custody compared to non-Indigenous people and how Indigenous kids as young as 10 are locked up.

I have learned that you can achieve a lot, just by sharing your experience. You don’t need to stand up in front of a crowd. You can be a positive role model in your own family and in your own community.

I sometimes think, ‘What if my uncle showed me how to write a resume instead of how to break into a house?’ or ‘What if my cousin showed me how to get an apprenticeship instead of how to start a car’. We need to be looking out for each other instead of continuing cycles that lead to damage and pain.