“Good night, Yammine.”“Good night, Chief.” I reply.The cell door   1    and I hear Chief’s
keys clinking as other doors clang shut further down the row. I step into my little cell and sit
down. I glance up at the window, covered in mesh (铁网)，and think to myself, “This isn’t
a life, it’s just a(n)   2   .”Being   3    makes me feel as though I’m being buried alive. I am a
puppet (木偶) with people   4   strings so that I eat, sleep and wake when they want me to.
I lie on my bed as night    5   and think the same thoughts   6  . I think about how it all went so
wrong, and imagine how I will   7    for all the time I’ve lost.Every day I live the same routine
and nothing changes except the people. Prisoners depart for other prisons, or get   8   . Others
   9   from different prisons, or fresh from custody (拘押). It’s a    10   revolving (旋转) door.
When I committed my   11  , I was a lost young boy, but now I am   12  . Walking around the
yard, I would notice my fellow prisoners reading books and writing letters to friends and family,
which upset me as my   13   at school was limited.I longed for the day when I’d be able to sit
in the sun, enjoying a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper or book   14   my choice. I also
longed to write letters to my friends and family, sharing my thoughts and feelings.I decided not to
waste my time inside and,   15  , make the most of all the resources available to me. I started to
learn and was   16   to realize my dream.Now, after five years’ persistence, heartache and hard
work, I have   17   my goal. Having   18   a course as a reading adviser, I can now help others to
read and write. And I have even started a creative writing workshop at Junee Correctional Centre.
Learning to read and write at a higher level has given me the inner strength to present myself in a
more   19   manner.And the day I’ve dreamed about has come true: I now enjoy my cup of coffee
with a book in my other hand. Learning to read and write has changed my life and this article is my
first piece of “proper” writing, and it won’t be my   20  ．