Brent Simpson was feeling suicidal on the side of a highway at 1am when a phone call with a close friend helped him see the path forward.
The former street kid, ex-Bandidos enforcer, convicted criminal and father-of-four was working as a long-haul truck driver. He was exhausted and emotionally fragile from spending so much time away from his young family.
His friend suggested he return home to the Gold Coast and start a podcast chronicling his tough life experiences.
Simpson followed his advice and started The Clink, a popular podcast featuring a variety of ex-prisoners, underworld figures, bank robbers, athletes and even lawyers who tell ‘real stories of redemption’.
Brent Simpson survived childhood abuse and a criminal past before starting his podcast
Simpson during his days as Sergeant-at-Arms in the Gold Coast chapter of the Bandidos
Simpson drove trucks around Australia after his release from prison in 2015
Simpson with his wife of 17 years, Yasoda, who was pregnant the last time he entered prison
Guests have included John Killick, who escaped from Silverwater Maximum Security Jail in 1999 when his Russian-Australian librarian girlfriend Lucy Dudko hijacked a helicopter and whisked him away from the prison yard.
AFL bad boy Barry Hall, and former gang member, prisoner and calisthenics world champion Chris Luera have also been interviewed.
Schapelle Corby’s half-brother, James Kisina, who was carrying the famous bodyboard bag when it was seized and searched in Bali, ended years of silence when Simpson interviewed him, breaking down as he recalled the guilt he felt while watching Corby sentenced to 20 years in Kerobokan Jail.
Simpson with surfer and abuse survivor Dean Morrison (left), a Season 2 guest on the podcast
‘The sentencing… that’s what really hit,’ Kisina told Simpson.
‘Now looking back, that’s why I’m tearing up, because I felt helpless, like I had no platform to express. All these people can talk about my family and have an opinion, but I can’t.
‘From there I was kind of in anger. I was just angry. I was lost…
‘Now, thinking, I would have put my hand up for it.’
Schapelle Corby’s half-brother James Kisina (right) broke down telling his story to Simpson
Kisina carried the bodyboard bag with 4kg of marijuana, for which Corby was later convicted
Kisina, now 32, told The Clink that he wished he had taken the blame for the Bali episode
Veteran criminal Killick recalled to Simpson how he made the dash for the waiting helicopter on the prison oval at Silverwater, as officers chased him and another in the watchtower fired three shots at the chopper.
‘The screw from the weights room ran across, he was coming pretty fast, and the other screws started coming,’ Killick recalled.
‘I jumped onto the side. [Lucy] handed me a… we had a sawn-off machine gun, and I sat and spun around and aimed it at the screws and they threw themselves on the ground.
‘Then the guy in the tower fired three shots… I was in the chopper by that stage and I heard it go ptt ptt ptt and I knew we’d been hit… The screws and the dog squad thought I was firing at them and they dived onto the ground, which really saved us. We flew out and got away.
‘First thing [Lucy] said to me is, “I forgot the keys to the [getaway] car… “‘
Veteran criminal John Killick pulled off the most daring prison escapes in Australian history
Killick escaped Silverwater Maximum Security Jail in a helicopter hijacked by his girlfriend
The helicopter used in the jail escape at Silverwater Maximum Security Jail in March, 1999
Killick’s lover Lucy Dudko, who hijacked the chopper, on her release from prison in 2006
Simpson, 45, uses his own troubled background, beginning in Sydney’s far western suburbs, to help draw stories out of his guests.
‘I’m always open because I know these people are talking about some true hardships,’ he said.
‘I’ve got to be open minded and be ready to hear some things that possibly haven’t been spoken about.
‘I was in boys’ homes and jails since I was a young person,’ he continued.
‘I was also physically and sexually abused. I had no family support. For me. it was all about being able to survive, which later led me into gang life.’
Simpson features guests from all walks of life, including AFL hellraiser Barry Hall
The Clink partners with charity, the Voice of a Survivor, to help institutional abuse survivors
A stint in Long Bay in Sydney was followed by a violent altercation with an off-duty policeman in a Sydney leagues club. Simpson went on the run, and ended up on the Gold Coast.
He played rugby league at a high level in the local competition until he was drawn into the city’s gang culture, becoming a senior member of the Bandidos during a 14-year membership with the club.
‘I became a very violent person and someone who didn’t take sh*t from anybody,’ he said.
‘But at the same time I was very protective of those I cared about and loved.’
Simpson during his 45-day cycle across Australia from the Gold Coast to Perth
The cross-country ride was to raise funds for Heavy Hiterz, which Simpson founded
Simpson decided to change his life when he faced 10 years in prison for commercial drug importation. His partner – who he now has three children with – was five months pregnant at the time.
‘It was extremely traumatic for her,’ he said.
‘I was never there to see my second son’s birth because of my bad choices and I have to live with that. He’s a young man of 11 now, and my best mate, and it’s hard for him to know those things.’
Simpson served six years in prison for the offence, and then became a long-haul truck driver. He also established mental health support group Heavy Hiterz. In 2016, he cycled from Gold Coast to Perth in 45 days to raise funds for the organisation.
Nowadays he works with survivors of institutional abuse through the charity, The Voice of a Survivor, even taking their statements on behalf of law firms for possible use in proceedings.
The podcast ‘supports itself’, he says, as he continues to drive big vehicles on the Pacific Motorway roadworks to make a living.
Simpson stressed that the show is not about glorifying crime or criminals, but about the road out of that life.
‘I also don’t believe that just because you’ve done time that you have a story of redemption,’ Simpson said.
‘But I talk to people with unbelievably terrible stories of trauma and abuse who come out the other side despite all the odds against them.
‘That’s why I do what I do, for people to see there can be a better day.’
Simpson said demographic analytics show his listeners range between 25 to 50 years old, are both male and female, and from all parts of Australia.
‘It’s been powerful to see that and know you’re reaching people,’ he said.
‘Lived experience is very powerful, and all these people with a tale of redemption are talking about lived experience.’
Like picking a favourite child, Simpson has difficulty nominating his favourite guest.
Ex-addict and former prisoner Chris Luera is one of Simpson’s favourite guests on The Clink
‘Chris Luera was one,’ he said, when pressed.
‘He’s a three-time world champion in calisthenics, lost his parents to drug addiction when he was a baby. He was fostered, a crack and meth-head by the time he was 13. He was incarcerated for most of his life.
‘He came home after his last sentence and told his adopted mum he would never resort to crack or ice again, and he never has. Now he’s a successful author and world champion. That was a very powerful story. Each of them are very special.’
Simpson is about to begin Season 4 of The Clink, which will be devoted to women, beginning with Wilma Robb who survived years of abuse in Parramatta Girls’ Industrial School and the Hay Institution for Girls as a child.
He said the success of the podcast, through Podshape, had helped him get to a better place in his life.
‘I struggle mentally with type-2 bi-polar,’ he said, ‘but it’s a lot better than it ever was before because of what I do.
‘Hearing other people and helping other people is therapeutic, it really is. Being able to understand living with a mental illness, and finding a positive in your life, that’s good.
‘But the past never lets go, there are always frustrations.’
‘The Clink’ podcast is available here.
