BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE saying "you can't keep a good man down" describes the popular Newrish Nital to the very core.
Convicted of fraud and sentenced to spend three years in prison, Nital held his head high throughout the trial and sentencing, went to Her Majesty's Prison, turned around the lives of almost every inmate and changed the face of rehabilitation.
He did not allow being behind bars diminish his passion for education; instead, he took that passion and made it his daily obligation to educate the jail populace.
Now a free man, having fought and won his own appeal, he is still looking up and doing bigger and better things.
SKNVibes spoke with Nital about his life as a now free man - how he has settled back into society, his family life as well as his relationship with Her Majesty's Prison and the inmates therein.
Now a free man, what are you doing with your life?
Nital: "My first order of being free was to get my two kids back in line with their schoolwork. They drifted considerably while I was away. They are now back in line academically, and also to compliment my daughter...
"The mere fact that she hung on and finished up her degree, graduated top of the class from Monroe University and acted like a father to all of her siblings who came after her and even those who were older than her. So she did a herculean task of maintaining that family bond even from a distance...New York.
"I am trying to work out how I can repay her. How exactly I can show her maximum appreciation for what she did, but something is on the way for her. I am grounded but I am on one foot so far. The other one is going down and coming up but it would be planted sooner that rather than later."
What have become of your classes at the prison?
Nital: "I still go to the prison to teach. As a matter of fact, I have added on a next subject. They are now doing English, Mathematics, Accounts and Human and Social Biology.
"I am the only person preparing them for exams, but now that I've got some of them...now assisting with the teaching. So I've given them instructions to practise a few questions on that and do this sub-topic for me.
"I'm also now teaching them how to teach and they try to follow my method very closely. And if it has worked for me, then obviously they should come out of there [HMP] being brilliant teachers as well. The schools might be grabbing for them because I am certain that they can do an excellent job at any institution in English, Mathematics, Accounts and Human and Social Biology.
"I am preparing [for January 2014 exams] close to 27 of them doing a combination of about 60 subjects in English, Mathematics, Accounts and Human and Social Biology with majority of them doing Human and Social Biology.
"They are very much at my heart. We recently had our graduation. We had the Festival and they were permitted to allow family members to come and they dressed up and I called them up and said what I had to say...and then I handed them over to Mr. Dorset who gave them their certificate [for gaining CXC passes].
"We are hoping that that can take a different slant next time around with more officials coming in and really showing appreciation towards the guys. It was just a matter of an idea that I had and I worked along with Mr. Denzil Harris [Senior Officer] in conjunction with Mr. Dorset. They decided it was a good gesture and worked along with it.
"It is my intention to see those guys graduate and graduate fully, just like any other graduation. Even though you are physically restricted, there should be no mental restriction and appreciation of your achievement."
What about your classes on the outside?
Nital: "I have re-established myself in terms of my classes. I teach from grade three students in primary school up to university level. I am back into it full time, doing my private teaching."
What has the response been like with the parents and the children?
Nital: "Man, it has been great! It might even be greater than when I was out here prior to going in. It is on the rise and will keep rising because there is no euphemism I can use, but you just can't keep a good man down."
Do you plan to pick up from where you left off with Law?
Nital: "Of course, but to be honest, I want to be of major assistance to a lot of inmates with respect to the legal aspect. There are a lot of things happening that they can be guided along and I would eventually do that. But I need to see myself a full year getting properly grounded and well fortified with respect to my obligation to my family and my students, of course, and then see what could come after that for me. Because at the core of my students now is the entire jail population, so that would take some doing.
"I have yet to teach a female inmate even though it has one or two of them. I hope the day would come when - I don't want to say that females would be a part of it because I don't wish anybody jail - but in the event that they happen to be in there, that they get a chance to come to the classes because they don't allow them to mingle."
Do you have any intentions of helping the inmates with their cases/trials?
Nital: "I have cases here working on. Even appeal cases I have here working on. Even persons who would have to go down for sentencing are asking me to come and utter a few words on their behalf. Not because they feel I might be able to articulate properly, but they feel that I am in a position to summarise their improvement, the metamorphosis that they would have gone through since being in prison because I am teaching most of them. I teach them in many different ways.
"Some might not be formal prudence in the setting that we have but I would teach individuals who are not a part of the class in certain different aspects. I am a teacher to all of them and they look forward to my help in any way I can."
And this is something you intend to continue with them?
Nital: "Until my last breath!"
What goals do you have for the inmates?
Nital: "I would like them to move on from CXC to A' Levels. I would like them to implement a studying room with computers and internet. They [authorities] give them access so they can do online degrees and even Masters [degree] for those who spend sufficient time, and they could get a full compliment as far as to facilitate the educational process of the inmate.
"One thing I would have said to them is in order to self-console instead of saying that you have gotten a prison sentence of 10 years, say that you have been sentenced to study. So for four years you have been sentenced to achieve six O' Levels, don't say that you have been sentenced to prison with no hard labour, say hard mental labour. Exchange physical to mental. Mind, they still have to do their physical work but I tell them look at it as if they have been sentenced to college.
"And that has been working for most of them because they see themselves leaving prison with a few subjects and of you can up that. It can only speak volumes to the rehabilitation of those inmates."
Nital said he is of the view that, with proper education, the inmates could be fully rehabilitated and return to society. And with better judgments make better choices, be more marketable for jobs and better provide for themselves and their families.
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