On a normal day in my life, I intermingle with the most dangerous and devious criminal minds in Jamaica! Yet these same individuals, have proven to be so naturally creative, it is rather uncanny! Being a correctional officer for just over a decade, I have seen the same individuals who plotted robberies; committed murders and major in general mayhem create beautiful art in paintings, music, and poetry!
While I am a firm believer that people can and do change, the reality is that hardened criminals rarely do. The percentage of repeat offenders in the penal institutions is a staggering reminder of this fact!
I want to be involved in programs that aim to prevent young people from taking the path to eventual pain, shame and suffering. I want to help to develop new methods of intervention and be a part of current methods that work!
I have seen many lives altered permanently in my work environs, some inmates have been maimed, handicapped, lost their minds and some even killed! I want to acquire the skills and knowledge which will efficiently equip me to be able to help to “bend the tree while it is young, so it does not have to be broken when it is old”.
As a child I was given the benefit of a proper family structure, I understand the importance of a positive influence in a child’s life. Unfortunately some children do not have the same stability in their homes, as I had. I want to be able to reach out to as many of those who are in need of a positive influence as I can!
I know that Social Work covers a great deal more, but my main reason for wanting to be in this field is to save as many young lives as I can from becoming statistics in the number of our youths killed each year, or sentenced to our penal institutions! As Jamaican reggae artiste Fitzroy Edwards, (a.k.a. Edi Fitzroy) said, ‘’prison life it nuh sweet, sometimes yuh haffi lay down on the cold concrete, prison life it nuh sweet, sometimes yuh even end up getting