|
|
| N.J. Inmates Tell City Teens: Jail Hurts |
| By The Trentonian |
| Published: 03/18/2003 |
|
Trenton High School students got a taste of what it was like to be behind bars yesterday, when four inmates from various penal institutions came to speak at the school. Jason, a Trenton resident whose name was withheld by state Department of Corrections officials to protect his identity, is doing big time for drug dealing. 'I was arrested on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near my home on Trent Street for the 21st time on May 27, 1993,' said Jason who is serving a 30-year sentence for Garden State Correctional Facility in Yardville. A Trenton High School dropout who excelled at football and baseball, Jason's lengthy rap sheet earned him his long sentence. 'I was a drug dealer who sold every kind of narcotic you can think of. The judge was tired of seeing my face and gave me a stiff sentence. I've got three more years to serve before I can even think of parole,' said Jason who is missing not only his own life but that of his children. 'I've lost my freedom, I'm a felon with limited choices who rarely gets to see his children and who will miss some of their growing up years. Some things can never be replaced,' he said. Jason advised his rapt audience to think more than twice when it comes to becoming involved with drugs, alcohol or the wrong crowd. 'Don't hang out on the street corner or hit yourself,' he said. 'Hit the books, get that high school diploma and change the world. Drugs and alcohol rot your brain. You need to use your God-given talents to change Trenton.' Jamie, a 27-year-old inmate from Morris County serving a seven-year sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton for driving a getaway car during a robbery, said she got hooked on drugs and alcohol at 12 and was raped three times after becoming involved with the wrong crowd. 'From the time I get up to the time I go to sleep I have to live with what I did. This is the hardest part of being incarcerated,' Jamie said. 'The choices that I made have put me in prison. I came from a good home, yet I chose to live in the streets, under bridges and in abandoned buildings and sell my body to buy crack cocaine. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.' Alicia, a 24-year-old Camden County resident serving 18 years at the same prison for robbery, said she had been heavily involved with a drug dealer who was later murdered. 'I thought I could remain above it all when he gave me cash and bought me things with the money he got from selling drugs,' she recalled. 'I didn't realize the downside of it, and I'm telling you that it's no fun being locked up. There's no glamour in it. You have the power to decide whether you want to hang out with the wrong people and whether to continue your education.' Chris, 25, an Asbury Park resident serving a seven-year sentence at the Garden State facility for drug dealing, said he thought he was invincible until his partner in narcotics sales set him up and then fled to another state. 'How many of you think it's cool to be behind bars?' Chris asked the audience -- a question which elicited numerous groans from the students. Saying that he had a chip on his shoulder and 'an attitude where I thought I knew everything,' Chris mentioned that he trusted his drug dealing partner who skipped the state and left him holding the evidence. 'I made a lot of money from selling drugs, bought several SUVs and a house,' he said. 'Then I lost it all when I was arrested ... I thought I would never be caught. In a split second, my life changed. When you go to jail, your friends disappear.' Jason Hernandez, 18, a senior, said he got a 'good idea' of what it was like to be in jail from listening to the inmates speak. 'It was a good presentation-- raw and uncut,' he said. 'They were really telling you the truth.' Fernando Rivera, 16, a sophomore, said he learned a lot. 'It was good,' he said. 'It made me really think.' Presented for the first time at the high school, the event was sponsored by the state Department of Corrections' Project P.R.I.D.E. (Promoting Responsibility in Drug Education) program and the city Police Department's Community Affairs Division. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think