First-time offenders and hardcore criminal mixing
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – RARELY would you find someone on the local scene who is more than willing to speak about their experience having spent time within the confines of a penitentiary.
The Federation’s lone correctional facility, Her Majesty’s Prison – with one branch each in St. Kitts and Nevis – houses hundreds of individuals who have either been condemned (sentenced to be hanged), are convicted of petty crimes or felonious acts, or are awaiting their trial at either the Magistrate’s or High Courts of law.
Calypsonian De Priest, born Charles Fraser, was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment after he failed at honouring his debt.
This is the first in a series of articles which would speak to different aspects of prison life through the eyes of De Priest, who said his life has been forever changed.
He has catalogued his experiences during his residency at what he terms “the pen”, speaking candidly about the good, the bad and the ugly parts during his temporary stint.
He said he arrived in the lockup at about 10:00 on the morning of July 17, 2008 and it was then that he was faced with one of the most uncomfortable experiences of his life.
“…they searched me, making me strip down to my birth suit and they searched all in my rectum.
“They gave me a blanket, plastic cup, bowl and fork and I was sent to the big house where I saw the cells. All of them were filled to the max with inmates sleeping on the floor under the bunks. One cell only can hold six bunk beds. But one cell! From what I saw, they had up to 16 or 17 persons in there. Those who could not get the bunk beds would spread their blankets on the floor under the bunk beds.”
The calypsonian explained that one of the troubling things he observed was the intermingling of youngsters with the more seasoned criminals, adding that it is a dangerous practice which should be discontinued.
“I saw juveniles – 14-16 year-olds – in prison between hardcore criminals. No juvenile center is in St. Kitts and Nevis. There is nothing in place to rehabilitate or help youths…In the cell I was staying, I discovered there were four prisoners convicted of murder and two were sentenced to life imprisonment. It was a situation where I saw it as a recipe for disaster. You don’t put life prisoners in the same cell with short-time prisoners. I could see remanded prisoners serving on year or six months and under. The prison system should have three grades of prisoners.
“It is dangerous for the prison guards. It is not a good working environment. This is what concerns me very much and it should concern you also…”
De Priest’s opined that the authorities should ensure that the prison must be a rehabilitative centre for offenders of the law and not a university where first-time offenders are schooled by hardcore criminals in making their movements more clandestine, which would decrease the likelihood of them being caught when they commit crimes.
“Jail is a place where people go when they violate the law to be rehabilitated, restore your behaviour to normal. But there are no social programmes or support in jail to help curb criminals who are repeat offenders when they get back to the streets. What I saw and learnt was that they get crash courses in how not to get caught the next time and how to be smarter and hardcore when the time comes.”
Last year, the Federation recorded 34 murders, many of which are believed to be gang motivated. And many other acts of criminality which took place during 2011 and before, were proven to be gang-inspired. While many remain yet unsolved, there are those that have been detected and persons – believed to be in gangs – who have or are being held accountable.
De Priest classified the behaviour of supposed gang members as utterly ridiculous, especially when persons are caught and thrown in prison, the Bloods are not subjected to conditions which are different to those of the Crips. Each is subjected to the same conditions.
“Gang bangers, you need go get this clear. At the time when we were in the yard looking at the game, you couldn’t tell who were Bloods from who were Crips or Black Knights and others. On the other hand, Bloods and Black Knights, when they are out on the streets, they don’t wear blue but in jail when they get convicted, they have to wear blue. So what sense does it make to kill a man because he is wearing blue or red or brown? The Holy Bible says in Matthew 5:22, ‘whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment’.
“Please try to see like I do. We all come up as poor people…never had the chance to taste the good things of life until recently. The standard of living started to improve for some of us so we could give our children more and better things. So we start looking like people out in those so-called first world or developing countries and have the same things like them. That doesn’t mean we should take up their bad habits like gangs. We are too small a country for that. And another thing, we are all family. Look good and you will see.”
