Martin Bryant: The life behind bars of Australia’s worst killer

Caged ... Martin Bryant pictured this week in Risdon Prison, Hobart. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: Supplied

EXCLUSIVE

AUSTRALIA’S worst killer is a grossly overweight loner who pays other prisoners with chocolate bars for attention and has violently attacked several jail workers.
At 48, Martin Bryant is unrecognisable from the tall, slim blond man who 19 years ago killed 35 innocents and injured 23 others in the Port Arthur massacre.
Through a series of interviews with former prison staff, medical staff and fellow prisoners at the maximum security jail where he will die, News Corp is able to reveal Bryant’s until now highly secret day to day existence.
Some jailers refer to him as “Porky Pig” and he has ballooned to 160kg at times. His weight fluctuates up to 30kg, from obese to morbidly obese. Some who have encountered him say Bryant rarely leaves his cell and is drugged to point of being “almost a vegetable”. Others talk of a violent and unpredictable predator who targets the most vulnerable of his fellow inmates.
From a vantage point on public land some 600m from Bryant’s exercise yard, News Corp witnessed him attempt a few kicks of a football, watch fellow prisoners exercise and try to join their conversations. Mainly, he walked alone, pacing back and forth, rarely glancing towards the yard’s front wall of bars, the only way to see the outside world.

A view of Risdon Prison, Hobart where Martin Bryant is being held. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: Supplied

Former prison guard Tony Burley, who left Tasmania’s corrective service in 2012 after two decades, said Bryant is treated with contempt by other prisoners.
“They think he is nothing special and they take advantage of him. He’s known for giving other prisoners what they want,” said Mr Burley.
Former prisoner Tony Bull said Bryant had been the target of several assaults and that he “wouldn’t stand a chance” in the general prison population, who would be all too keen to abide by the prison code which targets men who hurt children and women.
“Mainly he would be the target because he killed those poor little kids,” Mr Bull said,
“The fact is he’s Martin Bryant, and in some circles, to kill Martin Bryant, well you could hold your head up.”
Insiders says Bryant has attempted suicide numerous times since beginning his life sentence, and he has several health issues which have seen him transferred under armed guard to Royal Hobart Hospital for treatment.

Before ... Martin Bryant before he become Australia’s worst killer. Source: News Corp Australia

“When he is in the public hospital it’s very difficult for all of us,” said one former nurse, who did not want to be identified because of a media ban for public servants imposed by the Tasmanian government.
“A lot of us were here on the day of the massacre and we lost people we loved. Having to look after him is awful.”
Another former nurse described the terror her colleagues felt when their roles required them to care for him in a prison facility.
“This particular part of the jail where it happened is a little more comfortable, they try to make it a little more homely to help keep the inmates calm,” she said.
“That means there is carpet, a bit more space for them. But the problem is with carpet, you can’t hear people coming at you.
“That’s how he managed to get one of us, just by running at them from behind.”

Police searching the grounds of Seascape guesthouse where Martin Bryant was arrested in 1996 following an all-night siege. Source: News Corp Australia

Bryant has been involved in several assaults and was part of an attack in February that left a male nurse with a fractured jaw. That worker may not be able to return to duties.
His only visitor is his mother Carleen Bryant, although it is unclear the last time Mrs Bryant made the journey to Risdon. She did not wish to be interviewed for this story.
The Tasmanian prison service was approached for comment but said in a statement: “The Tasmania Prison Service does not comment on matters relating to individual prisoners”.