Students learn that prison is no picnic

As Belize’s only prison, the foreboding complex near Hattieville comes in for more than its share of attention. But today, thanks to an ambitious programme by the Police Department, some young people got a taste of what prison life is really all about. Jose Sanchez reports.

Sergeant Gilbert Pitts, Police Officer

“We get the third and fourth formers who are about to complete that part of their education. Some of them may go on further but some of them might drop out of school. And so I want to show them that they drop out of school, they should try to find themselves a job because if they try to into a life of crime this is where they will end up in the Prison Department correctional facilities. I believe by bringing the students first hand, let them speak with the inmates, see the type of foods that they receive, see the kind of treatment they receive, then they will have a second choice in what to do with their lives.”

Jose Sanchez, Reporting

This time around officers are taking approximately forty, fourth form students from Excelsior High School. Most of the students have never been there before so on the ride up I asked them what they expect to see.

Norman Humes, Excelsior Student

“I want to see if the prisoners live like dogs, or what are the conditions they live in.”

Jose Sanchez

“You think you could handle it up there?”

Norman Humes

“Up there is too rough, I don’t want to be anybody’s lady.”

Chantele Macintyre, Excelsior student

“I haven’t been to the prison before. What I see from the TV it’s crowded, it’s filthy, there are too many men in one cell. There is a lot of violence in jail. It’s not that sanitary and It’s not a nice place to live.”

Michelle Vernon, Excelsior Student

“I think I will see the jail people living good and that I think the place must still look clean.”

Though the atmosphere on the bus was jovial and the kids thought they were out for a day of fun, the reality hit home as soon as they were checked at the gates for weapons.

The students were first given a tour of the kitchen facilities where fourteen inmates exhibiting good behaviour are allowed to cook and bake. The first real taste of the result of criminal behaviour came at the boot camp section of the prison, which is where they faced inmates young enough to be their classmates.

Lionel Henry, Inmate

“I was going to Gwen Liz, but when I was going to Gwen Liz I was straying, I don’t call the friends, they were friendenemy. When they came around they made me stray. They told me this and that and I dropped out of school. I hanged out with them and started to play around and rob people. The more I rob and rob I didn’t get caught, but I knew that everyday bucket go to well one day the bottom have to drop out.”

Jose Sanchez

“How much time are you looking at?”

Lionel Henry

“Well the least for that is fifteen, the most is thirty because I am here for the armed robbery that went on in Belmopan and they said it was government money. Right now they are pressuring me hard for it. I just pray to God I try to win that case and I’ll never drop back here again.”

Kevin Gentle, Inmate

“I am really sorry for the crime I did. I am doing twenty-one years two counts of robbery and one burglary.”

Jose Sanchez

“What are you in here for?”

David Hernandez, Inmate

“Burglary.”

Jose Sanchez

“A lot of the students who have come are your age, what do you have to say to them about this place?”

David Hernandez

“I just hope when they come out from here they hold it down and try find a job and humble themselves.”

After that sobering experience, the students were ready to move on to the next part of the prison, Maximum Security.

They were hosted by notorious criminals such as Frank Castro, Herman Lanza and Mark “T-Dogg” Stuart.

Mark T-Dogg Stuart, Inmate

“People come here, people dead. People come here, they get raped. People come here, they get taken advantage of, all kind of things happen at prison. Like I said before, this is not a place for you. Keep your head up. This is something serious. It’s not a game.”

They learned that even these tough men long for a different life and they are happy to share their experience.

Mark T-Dogg Stuart

“You get a chance to explain to the youths, to make them not go and do the same thing that I’ve been through. I’ve been through it first hand and I am giving it to them, where I’ve been it ain’t nice. So I just want them to stay in school and for society to help the youths more so they can have somewhere to go and something to do keep their minds positive.”

Linsberth Logan, Inmate

“My fifteen year old daughter have a child. That’s pressure, and I’m trying to tell you, be slow to react and stay on the straight positive road because there’ll be a lot of people telling you “come here, come here. This is here and this is happening here, let’s go you can get this.” And where will you end up? Here and it’s rough.”

Herman Lanza, Inmate

“Speaking with the Excelsior students, I feel good this morning. It was an unexpected thing, but our programme taught us that students would come see us. We would even want to go out there to students at all schools for them to understand our experience back here because only who feels it knows it. I didn’t know God and when I was on the stretcher and I was almost ready to die from jail, then I got to realise that this experience in life that God is for real.”

Cadine Petillo, Excelsior Student

“Well being here today I’ve learned a lot. I’ve seen all those guys in the cell block locked up and man it’s so bad, some of them are here for stealing, robbery, maybe even rape, I don’t know what else. You see they want to be free but if they knew they wanted to be free they wouldn’t be here in the first place. I learned that nothing is more important than being free.”

Michelle Vernon

“The way they keep the guys in the cells, when you pass by they say stuff to you and things like that. I never expected that. When you go to the other cells, they are completely different from the other side. They were very respectful, most of them.”

“They guys from max. First I heard things about them on the news and newspapers, but when I get to know them it was totally different than what I heard on the TV. They didn’t look like the people who did the stuff that the newspapers said, they were totally different.”

Sergio Guerra, Excelsior Student

“I didn’t expect what I saw today. I expected even worse. I like what I saw today because the boys in here are really improving themselves, trying to make something. They do a lot of work that they don’t do in society. To me the media had a different picture, but some of them talked to me like T-Dogg, Frank Castro, those boys, they’ve really improved.”

In one day the students learned that inmates can also be teachers, and their only lesson for them was the importance of education. And while the students will return to their classrooms tomorrow to learn more lessons, the inmates will return to their cellblocks going over past mistakes, some for many years to come. Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.