In this August 2006 photo, Commissioner of Corrections Major Richard Reese (left) along with other staff members, on tour of Fort Augusta women's prison in August 2006. - file photos

Sherine Sewell is from St Catherine, and is into the second of a four-year prison term for assault.

Her six children, she said, are aware that she is in prison, as the younger ones were at home when the incident which landed her there occurred.

She stayed clear of that incident during the interview with The Gleaner, but said she had also asked the older children to tell the younger ones the truth about her being in prison; furthermore, adults have spoken to them. She prefers them to be told the whole truth about why she is not able to see them because she does not want them to feel that she has neglected them by not calling them or going to see them.

She is torn apart because the virtual lack of communication and absence of relationship with them are not what she wanted. Sewell has had visits from her daughters only two times since being in prison and said she is satisfied with what she has seen. "Even though their father died in a car accident in October 2005, my niece is taking care of them," she glowed. As for the boys, however, she can only write to the girls who communicate her thoughts to them. They are living with their father, she said, so a more intimate communication has been severed. But, if the reports from her daughters are anything to go by, the boys are fine. She is taking their words for it. She has no choice.

Sewell yearns for more frequent communication with her children.

"I pray for the day when I will be reunited with my children. Even though there is a call-box system in the prison, it does not work for me, as the children are at school, so I can't talk to them. But I get to talk to them on holidays."

Life in prison is tough, Sewell said. She doesn't talk much about her children to other inmates even though they are aware that she has children.

"I try not think about it, but that is easier said than done. I work in the prison as the superintendent's orderly, help out in the kitchen, and go to school to pursue three subjects at CXC level, to help me forget sometimes."

Sewell said when her prison sentence comes to an end and she goes home, she would like to spend an entire weekend with all her six children, talking to them about what she has been through.

"I want to hear how life has been for them, and to let them know definitely, that no matter what the circumstances, they should try not to go to prison."

For Leroy Simmonds, life has been wretched.

"It was hard for me because I was on death row for eight and a half years, and had been telling myself that I won't be seeing my children."

Weekends off

He said his older children knew of the situation he was in, and seemed able to deal with it. However, they did not tell the younger ones where he was.

He said after the correctional services, under the watchful eye of Colonel John Prescod, implemented weekends off from Saturday to Monday, he was able to see them in 1999. "It was the first time I saw the younger one. He was crying and I also cried when we hugged."

His younger son, he said, complained that he did not pass his Common Entrance Examination because "everyone else had a father, and he did not know his, and he could not concentrate his lessons".

Simmonds told The Gleaner that the weekend visit was suspended in 2001 and that placed a dent on the relationship, and impacted on them in a negative way, as his sons were target by individuals who wanted to the give them "guns to fight war".

Regret

Simmonds said he has lost touch with most of his family members, as they are adults now, but his granddaughter will ask, when he gets a chance to talk with her, when was he coming out of prison.

He said, "In prison, you have to be strong and maintain your sanity, that is how you will get the respect from other inmates and officers. But I regret losing 22 years of my life without being with my children, as I don't know what they are doing to get over it. But all I know, I tell them not to do anything to go to prison and stay out of trouble."

In this file photo, former Commissioner of Corrections Major Richard Reese (left) is in discussion with Superintendent Sylvester Lindo (centre), at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre. Also in the picture is Dr Marjorie Vassell (right), prison doctor. The occasion was a tour of the refurbished psychiatric wing of the prison in March 2006.