Former inmates strive to save TT’s youths

In 1990, Dale St Louis began his criminal career with the robbery of a small store in his community of Laventille, the event was a watershed moment in his life as it marked the beginning of a series of run-ins with the police, taking him on an almost 25 year journey of regret, discovery and eventually redemption through TT’s penal system.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday last Thursday, St Louis, now 43, has partnered with other former inmates and spends his time delivering motivational speeches and mentoring at-risk youths at secondary schools across TT. While he has put his life as a criminal in the past, he is still struggling with the challenges of convincing society that he is no longer a threat.

For most of his life, St Louis has struggled with issues of abandonment, and anger, born to a 15-year-old mother, he was abandoned and raised by an elderly woman in Quarry Street, Laventille, until he was left in the care of the St Mary’s Children’s Home.

“I stayed there (at the home) until I was 17-years-old when I got into a fight with a bully, I hit him a cricket bat in his head and was taken to the Youth Training Centre.

“From there I was eventually adopted by a family but I was just so angry they couldn’t care for me anymore and sent me back to the home, but not even the home wanted me at that point so I started living on the street behind the home.”

These hardships and the absence of any guidance caused a then 18-year-old St Louis to become even more angry and mistrusting of authority, thrusting him even further into the criminal lifestyle.

Between 1990 to 2014, St Louis was arrested and charged for over 20 robberies, eventually ending with his last conviction in 2014 for the robbery of an El Dorado grocery.

While behind bars, St Louis saw an episode of a popular television show which showed footage of another robbery where he saw the trauma that crime and criminals could have from another perspective.

“I saw myself in the footage, I saw the kind of behaviour I was projecting onto others. Tears came to my eyes right there in the prison and I thought this was what law abiding citizens had to go through and I didn’t ever want to be a part of something like that again.

“I wanted to escape my pain by hurting others but when I got into contact with Jesus and started my relationship with God, I realised I had a purpose in my life.” Since his release, St Louis began his work by appearing on the very same television programme that triggered his epiphany in which he recalled his time as an inmate and pleaded with other criminals to change their ways.

This one-time television appearance attracted the attention of another reformed criminal, 63-year-old Sylvan Joseph who was at the time already on the verge of turning his life around.

Joseph’s introduction to the criminal lifestyle happened by chance when he was blamed for the damage to a car years ago when he was a teenager.

Like St Louis, Joseph said he emerged from prison bitter and quickly fell into more serious crimes even losing an eye while at the Carrera Island Prison years ago. “I recognised him from a Church we attended in Tacarigua when I saw him (Dale) on television that night just as I was thinking about making changes to my own life. I’m an old man and I can’t keep doing this to others.”

From there both men met at the Church and began their plans to take their message to the youths of the TT.

Both St Louis and Joseph said their organisation ‘For Such a Time as This: Youth Outreach Ministries’ have approached secondary schools across the east-west corridor and parts of Central offering o speak with troubled teenagers about their experiences. Recalling a confrontation with a particularly troublesome student at a school in Morvant, St Louis said the boy was convinced prison would have been the best place for him as all of his friends were already in prison, but St Louis gave him a more realistic picture of life behind bars.

“A lot of young men believe that prison is a paradise because of what they see on social media, but the reality is prison is a horror house.

“There is no loyalty behind bars if someone is trying to be your friend behind bars it usually means they want to exploit you for sex or as a favour to hurt someone else behind bars.”

In their efforts to connect with TT’s youth, St Louis said he knows there will be challenges ahead, particularly with keeping pace with the technology-driven culture of youths today but said he accepts the challenge.

While the ministry has received generally favourable responses from both staff and parents, St Louis admits it has been an uphill battle as the organisation struggles with issues of funding, meaning everything from the matching polo t-shirts to transportation costs are usually done out of pocket or the kindness of strangers. Part of this problem is due in part to St Louis’ challenges in finding employment as a former prisoner. He said despite his determination to earn an honest living it was very difficult to convince employers he was a changed man.

“Sometimes even after we served our time for the crimes we committed, the victims are still hurt over what we have done. We expect the victims to move on but it doesn’t work like that.

“Society can be very unforgiving for inmates and because of that a lot of inmates tend to fall back into their old ways. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for me on the outside, I knew the kind of friends that I had to keep and the others that I had to let go of. Sometimes I would see them in the streets and they would try to convince me to go on a ‘scene’ with them, but I think I have a greater scene I need to be a part of.”

St Louis, who has a daughter of his own said it has been a difficult journey trying to reconnect with his family since his release in 2014. Recalling his own turbulent childhood, he said he wants better for his child which further fuelled his drive for change.