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Ok, let me tell you the story. A Thread.
A few years ago I had reason to have a series of conversations with a self-proclaimed gunman who is now in a prison in Jamaica for a crime he didn't actually commit but we will get to that later.
Actually, let's get straight into it, the reason I know this story is because he wanted help to get an appeal for his current case, a robbery he got over 20 years for.
He confessed to me that he did do robberies and if he had to kill people he would but he wasn't a straight killer. he told me had to use coke if he felt he would have to use the gun. He wanted me to understand that the robbery they accused him of tho, he didn't do that one.
I asked why does it make a difference if he did other robberies, he said because he could prove he didn't the one they accused him of, he said there were people who could attest to where he was on that particular day.
I asked then why did they give you the maximum for this robbery, why was it important for them to pin this on you? He said because the officer that held him the last time said they have to take him off the street. I asked why?
He said because of what he did when he came out of prison the last time and found out his son's friends had setup his son and shot him in his back. Turns out his son was also a gunman, a low level gang leader but he was wreckless, his friends conspired against him and killed him.
When the guy I am telling you about heard about his son's demise in prison he said he cried. His son was exactly like him and used to be so proud when he would call him and tell him what he was up to.
When he came out of prison after his son's demise, he said he got the names of all his sons friends. He got rid of all of them and burnt down their houses one by one. The Police knew he did it and why but no witness would dare come forward.
The Superintendent who held him last told him to his face that he would get him off the street one way or the other. They made up case for the robbery he was convicted of. The judge gave him the maximum allowable for the robbery, not sure what they're gonna do about parole.
I met him and he believed I could help him. I didn't provide the help he wanted but I kept contact for a while.
This story was important to me because I also had conversations about his childhood. He could hardly read. His parents never sent him to school after primary school. The women he got loved him because of who he was, they told stories to his children as if he was a hero.
That's why the first son emulated him, the other mothers thought he was too violent, they stopped contacting him. Those children are adjusted members of society.
He made a money and went to America on a bought VISA, he went up and did contract robberies on drug gangs. He said the coke made him fearless. On his last robbery he almost died, he robbed a big gang, he packed up and came back to Jamaica and decided to just do robberies here.
He was too coked out on a robbery and that's how he got caught when they killed his son.
As I spoke to more people in the prison, I realised over 70% had a literacy issue. Half of the other 30% barely understood what they read. There is a direct connection between literacy and crime.
Gunmen aren't born, our society has created conditions that allow the personalities we fear to thrive. Killing all the gunmen tomorrow won't help because we keep incubating new ones when we don't elevate people's living conditions.
When I spoke to that man, we laughed and we had conversations about regular things. He's a monster but he's human, so when we come up with strategies about how to solve crime, I always ask that we figure out the cause. This knee jerk reaction to "get rid" of them is misguided.
