A fearless, dedicated leader

ALL I WANTED for a perfect birthday was a day of hope: a day to feel that I had a future – that we all had a future. I wanted my 65th birthday to be a special day, and I wanted it to be meaningful. That’s why I chose to spend my birthday at two prisons on September 27. I had no idea my birthday would turn out to be a bizarre lesson in how fragile life in Trinidad and Tobago has become.

My birthday found me working on a story about the winning debaters at the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) and the second place winners of Golden Grove Remand. The late Wayne Jackson, superintendent of MSP, had inspired that story.

After the preliminary debates in July when MSP faced Golden Grove Prison, I had told Mr Jackson about my dream of getting law degrees for prison officers and inmates through the African Prison Project. His face lit up, he took out a pencil to write in a small notebook and said, “That’s a great idea. That is huge.”

Later at the semifinals of the prison debates, when MSP beat Port of Spain by one point, joy-filled MSP debaters rushed to tell me, “These debates are great, but when we go out there and debate in the free world, that is huge.”

I turned to a prison officer as the MSP debaters walked away and said, “They have Supt Jackson’s language.”

Supt Jackson fascinated me. In a country which has few really great leaders, he stood out as a fearless and dedicated leader in arguably one of the most difficult and harrowing jobs in this country. Jackson, always dressed in perfectly tailored prison uniforms, had the poise and the presence that made people stand a little taller when he entered the room. He had pride in his work, and he was a humble person.

When I got an unexpected opportunity to speak to Mr Jackson on my birthday, I grabbed the chance. It naturally turned into an interview, which I almost postponed because I had planned far too much in MSP and Remand for that day. I’m glad I followed my instincts and interviewed Mr Jackson. It would be his last interview. I will forever wonder what made me ask the question, “How would you like to be remembered some day?”

Jackson spoke at length of the debates and how important he felt they were to developing communication skills in prison “clients,” as prisons are fond of calling inmates these days.

His humour surfaced many times including a quip about the debate between MSP and Port of Spain Prison.

“Port of Spain was expected to beat us; however we beat Port of Spain by one point. After that victory, I made a weekend rounds in Port of Spain Prison, where inmates complained about how the points were tallied for the score. They felt Port of Spain had won. I said, ‘I have the power to transfer you all. Come to MSP and see how they prepare and do their research,’but none said they want to take up the offer,” he laughed. “Of course I was joking.”

That light-hearted interval turned sober when the phone rang and Supt Jackson said in a gentle, but firm, commanding voice to the person on the other end of the line, “What is this I heard about a fight? No one brought the matter to me? I cannot have men fighting in my prison. There must be consequences.”

It crossed my mind how difficult it must be to maintain a semblance of discipline in a prison where some inmates – as we know from past experiences – turn dreams of reprisals into reality. But I put the thought quickly out of my mind.

Mr Jackson would be shot to death in front of his home in less than a week after my interview. This diligent, conscientious superintendent would sacrifice his life for the principles he believed in.

We live now, in case you haven’t noticed, like drug-ridden Colombia under drug lord Pablo Escobar or like anarchy-ridden Somalia where pirates and warlords rule. Actually, we don’t need to compare Trinidad and Tobago to other countries. We rank 79th in terms of most dangerous countries on the Global Peace Index, and I’m sure we are moving up the ranks. Violence is the norm now, and too many people accept that or at least are resigned to that.

In less than a week after my “perfect” birthday, I would realise on a whole new level just how much trouble this country is in.

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"A fearless, dedicated leader"

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