Struan Morrison has refused to sell the Hakea prison greens he says he wore during a week of psychosis, isolation and near-blindness, despite being told they could fetch at least $1,000.
The 31-year-old found the clothes while sorting through his belongings and briefly listed them on Facebook Marketplace. Potential buyers responded, but Morrison said he could not put a price on what they represented.
“I can’t put a price on ’em,” he said. “For me and all I went through. That journey to hell.”
Morrison said he was transferred to Hakea Prison in October 2023 after a period of increasingly bizarre behaviour, encounters with police and repeated attempts by his family to get him into psychiatric care.
He said he was deeply psychotic, almost completely blind and held in a cell during his time at the prison. He recalled being allowed out to shower only every few days.
Morrison also said he repeatedly flushed the toilet in his cell until it overflowed, flooding the toilet and eventually the corridor. He said he later slept in the water after asking for a blanket and being told: “You made the mess now you can sleep in it.”
“All but blind. Psychotic. Locked inside a box,” he said. “That place was the definition of the deepest darkest part of hell.”
A journey through psychosis and prison
Morrison’s mental health crisis had begun before he reached Hakea. While preparing for a boxing bout, he had been pushing himself physically and mentally and became consumed by thoughts about war and evil.
He said he came to believe he was fighting the devil and had seen “the ruler of this world”. He declared war on the devil and believed he would remove him from his throne.
His family contacted police and he was taken repeatedly to St John of God Midland Hospital, according to Morrison, who said he was either discharged or not admitted. He later spent time at the Perth Watch House before being transferred to Hakea and receiving further mental health care.
Body-worn camera footage from a police intervention on October 6, 2023, shows Morrison talking animatedly in the street as officers approach him. One officer draws a yellow Taser before Morrison is eventually Tasered, restrained and taken to a police vehicle.
Morrison said the episode formed part of a period in which he lost his home, savings, cat and much of his independence.
His eyesight had already been seriously damaged during an earlier psychotic episode. In 2023, he said, he stared directly at the sun for hours over several days in an attempt to confront his fear of going blind.
He said the action burnt his retinas, leaving his vision measured at 2/60 in one eye and 5/60 in the other. He cannot drive and struggles to read or watch films, but continues to box.
After another psychotic episode in 2025, Morrison said he spent about three months at Bentley Hospital. He said there had been times when he did not believe he would see the end of 2026.
Boxing provides structure
Morrison now spends at least four days a week training at Geracitano Boxing in Midland, formerly known as 5six Boxing. He won the Silver Gloves in September 2020 in the super-heavyweight division, stopping his opponent at the end of the second round.
But he said the titles mattered less than the personal battle represented by returning to the gym.
“My enemy is never my opponent,” Morrison said. “It’s me and conquering myself. That’s the real fight for me.”
He still hopes to compete again and said winning an Australian title would be “mint”, while recognising that his mental health could deteriorate and lead to another hospital admission.
Morrison, who grew up around Midland, has been moving between friends, family and bush camps while waiting for housing. He said the gym and the people around it had helped him keep going.
“Give me a gym. Some gloves and me family and I’m content,” he said.
Because he has no permanent home, the Hakea prison greens are being kept by close family. Morrison said he had been asked to name a price for them but would not sell.
To others, they are simply prison clothing. To him, they mark what he survived and the continuing effort to regain control of his life.
“They represent a trip to hell and back,” he said. “And then some, figuratively and literally.”
“After all I have been through in regards and the road there and back are they prison clothes? Or are they the hell walkers clothing of a man that learnt to no longer be a prisoner to his own mind.”
The greens remain folded away while Morrison returns to training. He said each morning still brought anxiety, depression and the other difficulties he had faced for much of his life.
“The difference now is I’m able to fight again.”
