Author of the spellbinding novel, 'Jamaican Hot Steppaz in a Lethal Conflict', Clive 'Japanese' Bowen, and his wife Lelieth at the McRae Correctional Facility in McRae, Georgia. Bowen has spent the last 21 yearsbehind bars for drug charges.

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

Clive Patrick 'Japanese' Bowen has been stretched, bent and folded, yet he refuses to have his mind, spirit or body broken.

The potential Pulitzer winner remains behind a high-rise barbed wire aluminium fence, which stands guard around the grounds of the McRae Correctional detention centre, located in deep rural Georgia in the United States.

The avid reader and master scrabble player is among the hundreds of Jamaicans incarcerated behind the gates of the penitentiary, awaiting their deportation order back home.

The difference with this 'Yardie' is the fact that he is hard at work preparing the manuscript for his second novel; having recently completed the excitingly riveting must-read hardcover Jamaican Hot Steppaz in a Lethal Conflict.

The page-turner gives an introspective into the lives of Steppaz (gunmen, drug dealers and robbers) who came from the impoverished crime-infested ghetto community of Greenwood in Jamaica. Wanted and hounded by a police force renowned for their extra-judicial killings. Escaping to America and getting involved in the lucrative drug trade, and then finding themselves in a lethal conflict with the Italian mob in New York.

Hot Steppaz takes the reader into the belly of the inner city, where the hardened life of the criminal starts as early as age 13; where children walk in the footsteps of their unscrupulous fathers, and where at least one member of the family strives to make a difference.

In a spine-tingling manner, each page brings the reader closer to the heart of the killings and robberies, while showing how some communities condone and disguise wrongdoings and how the women (wives or baby mothers) turn a blind eye to the corrupt activities of their men.

Japanese, who grew up in the volatile Railway Lane community, downtown Montego Bay, has spent the last 20 years of his adult life behind bars.

Like several of his peers, he was arrested on drug charges in 1988, convicted of 18 counts of conspiracy and sentenced to 21 years and 10 months. According to him, his inspiration came from his avid reading and immense fascination and love for the game of scrabble and the life he lived before his incarceration. "From there on, it was a natural transition."

But, most importantly, he wanted to show what are the results when youths are not given the opportunity and social intervention is not put in place in depressed communities, such as the one he lived in as a child. "Circumstances dictate survival, especially in the ghetto, and without social intervention it is usually very difficult to bring yourself out of poverty."

He drew from first-hand experience while writing the book, and feels that most good writers write from familiarity. "I hope that I have not offended anybody, because this is a work of fiction, which may seem more to reality, so I hope the readers will see the moral of the story."

Fictitious characters

He said most of the people in his book are invented, but realistically the dream of going to America is very true, and this is where the country's youths become trapped in the same situation he found himself in, 'selling drugs'.

"But given the opportunity, most of them who are very creative could channel this creativity in a positive way." Drug-running, he admitted, was the only way he felt he could get his family out of their poverty-stricken existence.

Bowen has fathered 10 children, including an 11-year-old boy who was conceived by his wife Lelieth during his incarceration.

This love child was not his only gift in prison; he equipped himself by capitalising on all the programmes available by attending school and qualifying for his General Education Diploma (GED) and college credits from the University of Wisconsin.

The writer, who fashioned the book's protagonist, Paul, the same way he thinks, said while establishing himself in his new field, his energy is focused on making a change in life - "Regardless of your stead in life, you can redeem yourself." At age 50, he knows it is not too late to make a change.

His ambition is to have a book out each year. Careful not to get stuck in a certain genre, his next publication, which is scheduled for August, is a romance novel. While part II of Hot Steppaz, to be named Internal Conflict, will be in the book stores at a later date.

Currently, the paperback edition of Jamaican Hot Steppaz in a Lethal Conflict, which is sold for US$15.95, and the hardcover Limited Edition for US$24.95 can be found on amazon.com and japspublishing.com.

With five months to go before his release, Bowen says his approach to life is totally different. "Now I realise that I don't necessarily have to do anything wrong or illegal to achieve." He is computer-literate, knows Excel and Power Point, and writes better than many celebrated writers, and has been blessed with a woman who God gave one of his ribs.

Wife Lelieth - a star

Soon after most men are incarcerated they automatically lose their wives or girlfriends. In fact, many women have been known to leave their men within six months, some two to three years, but very few wait out a 21-year sentence.

Bowen's cradle throughout his imprisonment has been his wife Lelieth. "I wasn't just there for the prestige, I had to be there during his darkest moments," she told Outlook, adding tha there was a bar between, "They had no hold on us, love conquered all."

This woman of substance has been through what she termed as the valley of the shadow of darkness and sleepless nights. Yet, each time she visited her husband she had a smile on her face.

"Our love child (the son Japanese got while imprisoned) gave other prisoners hope, showing them that no matter what happened, something beautiful can spring from it." In her eyes 'love without loyalty is no love at all'.

This dedicated Jamaican woman, who resides in Florida, said she travelled 12 hours to and from a South Carolina prison every two weeks to visit her man, because it wasimportant for the children to know their father. "For years they felt he was in school, until they knew otherwise."

Reminiscing, she spoke of one Christmas when she was forced to squeeze 12 members of her family in a car, because she was unable to find a rental van. "We have never spent a Christmas or a birthday away from him."

Every state that her husband was moved to, Mrs. Bowen and her children followed. She remembers getting lost in Wisconsin for five hours, and after driving around in a circle that day, she cried profusely.

Struggle

As she struggled over the years with her husband's situation, she said her daughters also lived her pain, and assured her that none of them would date men who are involved in drugs.

With all the love, commitment and dedication that she has given her man over the years, she says if he returns from penitentiary and walks away, he actually owes her nothing. "I did it because it was the right thing to do."

When Japanese spoke of his wife, his eyes lit up with happiness, "I am blessed with the most amazing wife, the people I do time with revere her."

He spoke of her tenacity in raising six children on her own. "At least once per month for the last 20 years she has visited me in prison." He described her as his rock. "I don't know if it would have been possible for me to go through this without her support. It would have been 100 times more difficult."

He said the hardest thing for him in prison was having his children grow up outside without being there. "I hope I can make it up to them. I have a fantastic relationship with them, there is such a strong bond I am locked up."

This bond is evident from his daughter, Lakisha, who is also the publisher of JAPS Publishing.

She describes her father as a phoenix that rises from its own ashes. "Clive Bowen has proven that what some render as trash can be the treasure of the masses. He has not only risen from a low state of mind to an elevated status of intelligence, compassion and understanding, but he has also proven that one can jail the physical being, but the true essence of the mind cannot be jailed if one is determined to achieve mental elevation," she wrote.

A warden who exceeded his expectations

When he began writing, the custodian at the McRae Correctional Facility, Warden Pugh, was very encouraging. He said the warden assisted him by sending out his manuscript. "Sometimes it took three to four proofs, but he never ever tried to stifle my creativeness."

As a prisoner he is not entitled to conduct business, so all rights to his book has been signed over to his daughter Lakisha, and part of the profit that is made from it he wants given to the Western Society for the Upliftment of Children (WSUC), a school in Montego Bay which admits street children.

The WSUC, which has been addressing the educational and social needs of over 229 children in western Jamaica, was on the verge of closing its doors earlier this year.

When Bowen heard of their plight, he decided that he wanted to give some of the proceeds from his book to the organisation, which has been in existence since April 1997.

"I believe in philanthropic work, believe in giving back to the society, and as a youth from the ghetto I understand the plight of the children in this institution."

Already, Jamaican Hot Steppaz in a Lethal Conflict has become popular among islanders overseas.

Grace Findlay Campbell, a Florida resident who finished the book in one day, said she was spellbound by the true to life interpretation, "I was glued to the pages, I would skip to check what was happening on the next page, in anticipation of what was up next."

Bowen will enter the music business by way of a production company in Montego Bay on his return home. His passion is music and he will continue to write books.

Quite aware that the landscape in Jamaica has changed tremendously in the last 20 years, he said one of his goals is to have a positive influence on the youths in the country. Having mastered the art of dealing with young people, with enormousconfidence, he thinks he is one of the few persons who can help the youths.

Outlook wishes to say special thanks to American Airlines that provided the airline ticket for travel to Atlanta, Georgia.