Eight years, six months and approximately ten hours. That is the length of time Kareem Gomez, 35, Akili Charles, 39 and Chicki Portillo, 26, all of Covigne Road, Diego Martin, spent behind bars for a crime they insist they did not commit.
Last Tuesday, they walked out of the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court as free men after a magistrate ruled there was insufficient evidence linking them to the 2010 murder of Russell Antoine.
Although they are now free, the three men told the Sunday Guardian in many ways they still feel shackled because it’s difficult to get rid of the stigma of being ex-prisoners.
In addition to that, almost a decade of their lives spent behind bars awaiting trial, they not only feel robbed but also lost as they now struggle to “catch up” in their lives.
“It come like we have to start over our whole life,” said Gomez, the most outspoken of the three.
He isn’t confident that the academic achievements he attained during his incarceration will be recognised. Gomez and Charles got passes in mathematics at CXC level, with Charles also obtaining a Grade One in English Literature.
He said: “Prison does tarnish your character. Just to get a job on the whole, remember now people are watching us and still forming negative opinions...they still believe we’re guilty.”
Supporting his friend’s view, Portillo added: “I even read the article online about our release and the number of negative comments I read was unbelievable. No matter what, even after we proved our innocence, we are still viewed as criminals.”
Gomez claims there is nothing in place for ex-prisoners to successfully reintegrate into society.
“They say in jail they put in place rehabilitative programmes. That is in jail. But what they have in place for we when we come out of jail? People still watching we like criminals,” he said.
“You going for work and one time, as they find out you were charged for murder, they telling you to leave they workplace, they don’t want you here,” added Gomez.
Faced with this reality, the three men are solely dependent on their families for care.
Still haunted by jail life
Although they are now sleeping in their own beds, taking showers whenever they need to and eating proper meals, all three revealed that they are still haunted by “jail life.”
Gomez still rushes to silence his phone when it rings. They all still rise every morning at 4.40 am, unable to go back to sleep.
For them the prison experience was inhumane, crammed into overcrowded cells with other prisoners, as well as rats, roaches and cats.
“You have to sleep among that every day of your life. You could get up and a rat right next to you,” Gomez recalled.
He said 8x6 cells intended for three people are crammed with eight and sometimes nine prisoners at a time. Luckily, because he was an orderly, his cell only had four people.
Meals consisted of hops bread every day of their lives, which they said would be “decorated” with butter, a tiny Vienna sausage, or a spoon of sardine. If for medical reasons a prisoner could not have any of these, “dry bread was the only option. Often meals with rice or channa would be filled with weevils, they claimed, and meals were often shared in extremely unhygienic conditions.
“Your food sharing right by a drain, a man could throw out pee or faeces right there, through the gate, while you’re going for your diet. If yuh eating and a man feel to “go off” he could “go off” right there in the cell, you can’t do nothing ‘bout that because it has no toilets in the cell in this big 21st century,” Gomez said.
Prisoners get their first meal of the day at 6.30 am, lunch is at 11 am, and 3 pm latest, dinner is served.
However, Gomez said in recent times before he was released, superintendent of the Port-of-Spain Prison Charmaine Johnson, whom he described as a “mother” in the jail, introduced initiatives for relatives of inmates to purchase lunches from the prison canteen. Johnson also spearheaded a family visit programme which allows inmates the opportunity to spend time with their children.
Mental torture
The trio said their time in prison took a psychological toll and to get through, they depended on each other’s strength and prayers.
“It’s not easy knowing you’re innocent and you just have to sit down and rot in a cell while you’re at the mercy of a judiciary system that is flawed from start to finish,” Gomez said.
Portillo recalled an occasion when a prisoner who was also facing murder charges, hanged himself. This not unusual, he said, as many people cannot endure the prison life. Someone is charged with murder could spend what seems like a lifetime in prison before being proven innocent or guilty.
In addition, incarceration inflicted a financial burden upon their families.
Gomez said: “Our parents are not rich people and when your family have to spend over $100,000 in legal fees and you cannot even get a trial date since 2011, you telling yourself these people really don’t care.”
Gomez considers the decision by former Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar to take up a position as a High Court Judge in April 2017 was a blessing in disguise, as if that hadn’t occurred, they might still be incarcerated.
Starting all over again
Prior to their release, to pass the time and maintain their sanity, all three joined a debate team lead by former journalist and educator Debbie Jacob, who spends her time tutoring inmates in CXC English and history, among other subjects.
Charles and Portillo went on to write and star in their own radio soap opera, The Royal Wake Up Call, which aired weekly on the prison’s Rise Maximum Radio. The storyline, Charles explained, is based on what they experienced as friends incarcerated together and how prison life could have negative and positive effects on someone.
Now free, they would like to start an entertainment business together, but also have individual aspirations. Charles, a father of one, would like to get involved IT and business management, while Portillo wants to become a motivational speaker and Gomez enjoys events management.
With Father’s Day soon approaching, Gomez had a message for fathers who refuse to take up their parental responsibilities. He believes a lot of the delinquency among young people is caused by absentee fathers.
Removing the pair of heavily tinted sunglasses he wore throughout the interview, he said: “Fathers try and be there for your sons because children need a father. A mother cannot do everything. A mother cannot do what the father could do for a son and the father is the backbone of the family.”
All three also used the opportunity to make an appeal to the T&T judiciary to deal with the “sluggishness” in the system.
They said: “Stop playing with the lives of young people. You are taking away time that cannot be regained. Give an accused a fair and speedy trial. Don’t punish him before he is tried and don’t label him guilty before you can prove his innocence.”