Keeping his promise to use his time as a free man to convince wayward youths to steer clear of crime, paroled convicted murderer Earl Pratt yesterday urged gunmen in his old stomping ground of Central Village, St Catherine, to turn in their guns.

“Prison is not a bed of rose. Mi lose 30 year of my life [in prison],” an emotional Pratt said in his approximately 5-minute address to members of the Fellowship Spiritual Apostolic Church and dozens of residents who packed the church to see him.

“It is not something you can put back when you lose it,” he added. “When I went to prison, I never had beard on my face, now look at me, me a old man. I am asking the gunman dem to bring in their guns. Try yourself, don’t get reckless.”

Pratt, dressed in a blue suit and tie, told the congregation that he was not proud of taking someone’s life. He also thanked those who supported him during his 30 years behind bars.

The 48-year-old Pratt received thunderous applause and shouts of “hallelujah” from the congregation and residents who crowded the doors and windows of the small revival church.

Following Pratt’s speech, the congregation sang the chorus ‘I’m free . praise the Lord I’m free’, after which he was led around a spiritual table. Church members then prayed for and anointed Pratt with olive oil, which, it is believed, offers physical and spiritual protection.

Pratt was also given a lighted candle during the anointing ritual.

After the formalities, he exited the church, followed by a crowd of adults and children.

“I feel better after the prayer,” Pratt told the Observer.

Pratt, who was given a hero’s welcome by the community, could hardly walk without people – only a few old enough to know him – hanging on to him and posing for pictures.

“I heard so much about Earl Pratt,” said Juliet Marshall, 28. I just wanted to see this famous Earl Pratt.”

After meeting him, Marshall commented: “He seems like a nice person.”

A plan by Pratt and the more than five friends who accompanied him to walk through the community did not materialise as he could hardly escape the clamouring crowd. Only a heavy downpour was able to disperse the crowd.

“Mi feel good, man; because I felt that I could not come back into the community because the killing happened,” Pratt said, while the song ‘I’m coming home’ blared from two speaker boxes mounted on top of a car. Pratt also took the time to purchase sugar cane and jelly coconuts for a group of children at a nearby fruit vendor.

One of those clamouring to meet Pratt was Ivan Morgan Jr, the son of Ivan Morgan, the other man who was sentenced to death along with Pratt on January 15, 1979 for the October 6, 1977 murder of fellow gang member Everton ‘Junior’ Missick. Missick was shot several times in the head and buried in a shallow grave. His death stemmed from an internal feud, the Observer was told.

Last week, Pratt had told the Observer that Morgan turned himself in to the police on the day of the murder and informed them that Pratt was one of his accomplices. Pratt was arrested on December 7.

Morgan took ill and died in prison in 1995, one year after a landmark ruling by the Privy Council making it illegal for persons who spend more that five years on death row to be executed.

Both men’s death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, but Pratt was granted parole and released from the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre on May 18.

“I am glad he is out a prison,” said Morgan Jr. “If my father was alive today, the both of them would have been released. Every time I visited prison I saw the two of them together.”

He said he never talked to his father about the incident that landed him in prison but said that his father always encouraged him to keep away from trouble.

Waiting quietly to greet Pratt was 57-year-old David Williams, Pratt’s eldest brother. Williams told the Observer that he was happy that Pratt was released, while at the same time noting that Pratt would never have gone to prison had he listened to him.

“I used to warn him about his company but he never listened to what I was saying,” said Williams. “He was brighter than all of them. But he was just stubborn.”

When the crowd eased, Williams went over to his brother and greeted him with a firm handshake. Both men smiled warmly as they looked into each other’s eyes.

Still playing the role of the protective big brother, Williams asked, “You remember what I used to tell you?

“Yes, man,” Pratt replied with a smile. “All when mi inna prison you still tell me.” The men then parted company as another wave of people rushed in to greet Pratt.