Stepping inside the infamous Boggo Road Gaol would strike fear in the hearts of many.
But for Pat Stone, who spent the best part of the last 27 years up close and personal with prison inmates, it was a privilege.
The 82-year-old, who retired this month, said the best parts of her role as a prison chaplain were interacting with prisoners, officers and staff and “to always be aware of this and never take advantage of it”.
“It was an absolute privilege to be able to share with these different women, and an absolute privilege that they would even consider sharing their lives with you,” she said.
Ms Stone offered support to all inmates, regardless of their crime.
In fact, most of the time she didn’t know why they were imprisoned.
“I would never, ever ask why a person was in prison. That is their business, not mine,” Ms Stone said.
“But because of the media, you sort of knew some of the names.”
Despite the stories that came out of Boggo Road prison, Ms Stone said she “never felt scared”.
“Never. The inmates… they had respect for you, and built into that respect was protection, too.”
Ms Stone would sometimes encourage people from different churches to join her at the prison to help run chapel services.
“The [inmates] really appreciated people giving up their time to go in and spend time with them,” she said.
“For the people that I took in, more than once they said to me on the way out: wow, they are just ordinary people.”
Ms Stone can still recall her first visit to Boggo Road in 1998, where she volunteered until the prison closed in the early 2000s.
“I was a bit overwhelmed by the huge brick walls and by the size of the prison itself,” Ms Stone said.
“Later, my strongest memories are of the very large keys with which the officers used to open the gates to allow entry into the various units. Some units had old dilapidated lounges on which to sit.”
After Boggo Road, Ms Stone began visiting the then recently-commissioned Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre in Wacol.
She later had a six-year break from prison chaplaincy but continued helping incarcerated people through other ministries.
She returned to chaplaincy in 2020.
Post-retirement, Ms Stone said she was planning to write a memoir.
