A former bank robber who now shares the harsh reality of being imprisoned alongside violent murderers, rapists, and drug lords has acquired a sizable internet audience.
Young people are meant to be weaned off of the “gangster” life on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram by Russell Manser’s candid evaluations of Australian jail life.
He has not described the often occurring acts of violence, such as one guy striking another with a carrot, that may occur within.
The former prisoner described how he broke out of captivity by making a handcuff key out of a dustpan, and his exploits are quickly becoming famous online.
When Manser was still a young boy, he committed his first carjacking in Sydney’s western suburbs.
In the 1990s, he developed into a prolific over-the-counter bank robber, robbing tellers around Australia.
“Educating people has always been important to me.” Regarding his most recent effort, Manser told Daily Mail Australia, “My main issue is about the jail system we have in this country and looking at (alternative solutions).”
“People are praising me for the films and for being educational,” I said. They’ll say things like, “I had no idea this happened.
Manser estimates that “97% of the response has been good.”
But because of his escapades, Manser had to serve many long prison sentences.
Manser created a handcuff key to break out of jail with other prisoners during one of his prison terms.
Some 30 years after the occurrence, his account of it has amassed more than 100,000 views on TikTok.
He explains in the video how he created the key out of a dustpan and uncuffed one of his hands with it.
He “punched on” while throwing salt into the police officers’ eyes with his free hand.
He describes the battle by saying, “We tried our best, and that day, we prevailed against them.”
Manser described assaulting six cops who were meant to march him and other prisoners to court while using his hanging shackle to hide his knuckles and do extra harm.
He then escaped the area with another prisoner by boarding the vehicle of a local guy who was painting his home.
He claims that two days later, he robbed the National Australia Bank in Turramurra before fleeing to Perth and then Darwin, where he committed one more bank robbery before being apprehended by police as he was getting off a bus.
It seemed to be all fun and games at the moment. But the 15-year prison term that came along with it didn’t feel great, he admits to the audience.
That was my experience in jail; I wouldn’t advise anybody to do it; it wasn’t very enjoyable.
In a another video, Manser described how he saw a prisoner beating a cellmate with a carrot.
According to reports, some inmates at Windsor’s medium-security John Moroney jail were permitted to cultivate food in vegetable gardens.
Manser’s companions were known for growing enormous types of carrots, which they would lay on the block table for other convicts to admire and prepare meals with.
When one inmate started screaming while getting a do-it-yourself prison tattoo one day, the large carrots were put to use in a different way.
Another big con was roused from his cell slumber by the prisoner’s screams of torture.
The tattoo artist pushed the elderly friend out and said, “Mate, you’ve got to go and have it up,” as Manser described. “He woke up and asked, “Who’s making that noise,””
The angry con was sent the half-tattooed prisoner to resolve the dispute.
Manser said that the upset prisoner grabbed one of the large carrots off the table and flung it at the half-tattooed prisoner’s chin.
He is the first person to ever be knocked out with a carrot in history. Manser said, “That is a factual story.
Russell Manser recalls seeing a prisoner use a carrot to knock out another prisoner.
In a another video, Manser said that everyone in the jail hierarchy may be equally as deadly, therefore murderers weren’t feared more than anybody else.
“People often ask me whether I have encountered many killers in prison. I did, and I found a lot of them.
They were just another bum in the showers, as they would say, the same as everyone else.
“As far as making threats or anything like that, (it was) not something I was really very terrified of,” the speaker said.
He said that despite the graveness of their crimes, most killers get the same treatment as other inmates and aren’t necessarily the top dogs in the yard.
It doesn’t imply anything that someone has squeezed a murder in there, someone has said.
In several of his films, Manser tries to persuade young people that they don’t want to be like him.
Videos discuss the risks of incarceration, how it affected others around him, and mental health.
He also ponders the romanticization of crime and jail culture.
Manser addresses would-be criminals in a video titled “You Don’t Want to Be a Gangster” while posing as if he’s dead to the camera.
You young man, you think being a mobster is cool. He starts the video, which has been seen more than 15,000 times, by saying, “It ain’t, it’s dog poo.”
“Those guys aren’t giving you the whole truth, dude; they’re not telling you about the f***ing loneliness in jail, the s*** food, the s*** treatment, and the way your family is treated when they visit you there.”
“They don’t inform you about the years of your life that were squandered,”
“The true hero is the hard-working person who wakes up in the morning, rain or shine, and f***ing puts food on the table for their family.” That guy is the true hero, he declares.
You’re the one who won’t ever be discovered, right? They’re all throughout prison. Simply waking up, utilizing your head, and putting in the work may improve your life.
The video’s comment section seems to indicate that his message resonates with a lot of Australians.
Well said, buddy,” one reader remarked.
Oh, how I wish this had been spoken to my kid ten years ago! A mother in despair said, “He comes home from Cessnock next year; he’s been in and out since he was 14.”
Another guy commented, “Some people don’t realize that you can still have a good motorbike and a cool automobile without being a gangster.”
Other films show how people act in prison and include horrifying stories that would shock many “straight” people.
Manser said that after reading the comments on his first social media postings, he realized he wanted to start producing more jail films.
“I was simply seeing how gullible the general population is; there was no rehabilitation (in jail), just retribution and punishment, and people accept this whole concept that individuals need to be punished and imprisoned like animals,”
I would want to be a part of the change since it doesn’t operate that way.
“I believe that now is the ideal moment to begin educating people on this. Through COVID, people have experienced being trapped in their homes—just picture spending 23 years locked in your bathroom.
He claims that from time to time, he receives messages asking him to “suck it up” or that inmates just like him deserved severe punishment in jail or prison.
When Manser’s partner sees such remarks, she becomes offended, but the ex-con is unconcerned by them since he is certain he is doing morally.
“I’ve apologized for my actions 1001 times, and look, I’ll apologize again, but I believe my regret is reflected in the work I’ve been doing,” the speaker said.
Following a Royal Commission investigating sexual assault that altered the trajectory of his life, Manser has made several public appearances.
Manser’s time in prison was unquestionably marred by jail rape and paedophilia since he had grown up the victim of heinous attacks.
Three decades after being molested at the Daruk Boys Home, he wrote to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and was visited by a delegate before eventually getting an apology and compensation from the NSW government.
Manser currently directs an advocacy organization that assists in connecting abuse victims, detainees, and ex-detainees with legal counsel, therapy, and rehabilitation.
It started when other prisoners became suspicious that he was calling the police on the jail phone while in the yard.
He stood up to the other thieves and, swallowing his trepidation, revealed to them that he was really calling the commission investigating sexual assault.
In response to the news, Manser’s other inmates approached him in the yard, but instead of attacking or making fun of him, they offered handshakes and embraces.
Many prisoners even inquired as to how they might share their own accounts of abuse.
That is essentially the origin of Voice of the Survivor. He earlier told the ABC, “I simply had this way of people giving me their tales and feeling at comfortable.