AN Australian gambling addict who spent years in a Melbourne prison has bought his old cell.

The ex-prisoner is purchasing the tiny room as the Pentridge prison is being transformed into a residential and commercial complex.

Former lawyer Graeme Alford spent several years in the Melbourne prison after drinking and gambling sent his life spiraling out of control. By the early 1980s he was behind bars.  He started stealing from trust funds and used a sawn-off shotgun in a failed bank robbery. Alford’s need for money for his gambling debts led him to commit fraud and eventually he was jailed at Pentridge for armed robbery.
On leaving prison Alford rebuilt his life, writing the best-selling book "Never Give Up" about his experiences as an inmate and becoming a successful motivational speaker used across Australia’s corporate world to inspire employees.
When he saw the heritage-listed prison was being redeveloped, he saw an opportunity.

"I thought that not too many people have bought their own jail cell back," Alford told the Australian Associated Press.

Pentridge, where the last prisoner ( Ronald Ryan) was hanged in Australia in 1967, was famous for housing hard-core criminals from 1920s gangsters to modern day killers before it closed in 1997.
Alford, who was to take the keys to cell 43 at a ceremony on Wednesday night, would not say how much his old cell cost.

The former lawyer, who swore off alcohol once released from jail, said the space was being converted into a storage area for millions of dollars worth of rare wines.
"The irony is that I don't drink now," he said. "This is purely an investment."

While for many memories of their incarceration would be something they wouldn’t want to be reminded of  Alford seems unperturbed by the thought of spending more time in his old cell.