Immediately after the Sunday Observer highlighted Elvis Thomas’s story on March 19, several Jamaicans contacted the newspaper with the request for him to share his prison experiences with schoolchildren.

Their hope, they said, was that he would be able to dissuade the youngsters from being sucked into a life of crime and violence.

On March 28 Thomas visited Robert Lightbourne High School in St Thomas where he addressed upper-school children under the theme ‘Jus medz it: Violence ano the ansa’.

Pointing to the poor condition of the main road in the parish — due in part to the development of the southern coastal highway — Thomas compared the students’ lives to that of the road, to drive home a significant point.

“While I was on the road coming, ah bad roads, bad roads, wrong turn… so I started complaining about the roads, and I said, ‘Why dem dig up di roads?’ And someone in the van said to me, ‘It’s not just about digging up the roads; infrastructure has to be put in so that when you build the road, the road won’t mash up back right away. You have to build the water drain; you have to build the reinforcement and all those things. Even the marl that we driving on right now, as rain fall on it and vehicles drive on it, it is set in a way that when the asphalt is laid on it, it don’t just crumble.’

“I took the explanation, and it made sense. But I want you to apply it to life scenarios. You are young now… The thing is, at this point in life the road is rough. [It] look like nothing much nah come out of it, but your education is your reinforcement; your education is your foundation; your education is what will help you when you reach your teachers’ age and my age, to stand up for yourself and fend for yourself without turning to crime and violence. Crime and violence is not an option,” he told the attentive audience, which also included students from Paul Bogle High School.

Thomas, who pursued five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects while in prison and completed an associate degree in automotive engineering upon his release, urged the students to equip themselves with the right tools so that they can secure meaningful jobs.

“Get a skill; get an education, so that when you leave school you are employable [or] you can start your own business and manage your own business. Do your accounts, do your maths, do your POB [principles of business],” he told them.

As Thomas recounted his unfortunate run-in with the law that caused him to be incarcerated for 24 years, the students began to ‘medz’ all he had to share, as curiosity and shock were evident in their facial expressions.

He told them that the only hope he had was in Jesus.

“I was hopeless. I turned to the only comfort that I could find. I turned to Jesus Christ. And it was in the prison that I started reading my Bible. I got baptised in prison. I started going to school in prison… After 24 years of waiting and waiting… they decided that they were going to give me a chance to re-enter society,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of making the right decisions Thomas said, “Twenty-four years of my life have been wiped out because of one stupid decision while I was still a teen. You are a teenager now. The choices, the decisions you make today will affect your future. If you decide not to get an education, dig out your hand middle pon corner wid people and drink ‘special’ and dem something, when you reach 20 and 25, nobody don’t want you in dem company fi work. Nobody nah employ you.

“You have your needs; what are you going to do? Your only option is to turn to crime and violence. That is not an option. So mi a ask you today to make a conscious decision. Mi a ask you today fi talk to your friend,” he pleaded.

Thomas, who has gained meaningful employment since the Sunday Observer story, also encouraged the students to be mindful of the types of music that they listen to.

“Mi hear dem a sing some song weh no fit fi nobody ears. When mi hear dem deh song deh sometimes mi wish mi coulda unhear dem, because the things that you hear go into your brain and affect [you], form something in your brain and you find yourself singing some songs that cause you to be wondering what you just listened… music influence you. Listen clean, good music,” he said.

After his presentation, students enquired further into his experiences, asking about his relationship then and now with his father and his motivation for not continuing in violence as some other ex-convicts do.

Dean of Discipline Mikir Brown, who organised the forum, believed the session was successful and the primary objective had been achieved.

“I think the students would have learnt a lot today as it regards their way of thinking going forward, and it’s very evident that Mr Thomas’s rehabilitation process is one that we ought to watch out for,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“We know that violence is roaming in the schools in Jamaica all over, and if we can catch a few of the students before they go down that road that Mr Thomas went down, we would have completed our job. I personally thought that this would impact the students in a positive way, and something that they could have learned from… and for Mr Thomas to see how his downfall can help to deter a few students in Jamaica,” she noted.

Fellow dean of discipline at Paul Bogle High School Rohan Bull shared similar sentiments.

“It was a very informative session. Seeing that students are being disruptive in school, they need to have examples so that they can be rehabilitated back or warned as to what can happen for their negative actions… This is a message that is needed because it’s not everyone get a second chance. Is not everyone that have to make mistakes to learn. So someone telling you, you can take heed before you have to make that mistake,” he said.

Yanette Holness, a literacy coach at Robert Lightbourne High, believes that Thomas’s message will bring about change in her students.

“For me, today was an amazing journey, having met Mr Thomas. Mr Thomas has taught us that, even though the road might be hard, whatever tool comes our way in this life, we have a part to play in how we respond; and in responding, can determine whether we cut it short, end it there and then, or we make that negative force that comes at us, we turn it into a positive. So others can benefit and we too can make our lives better, and the place that we live a better place to live, grow, raise our families and do business. It’s about change,” she pointed out.

Students said they benefited richly from the session.

“It was very thoughtful. It really touched me. It [prison] take some time out of his life but it really touched me. He actually saw that he went wrong and admitted the fact that he was wrong. He is not even going that way again; he has put his mind forward for another goal. I like the fact that he did not use that to hold him down. He used that to motivate himself and move forward,” said Jody-Ann Brown.

Shaneka Turner agreed. “It was very inspiring. I thought it was life-changing, mind-changing. I’m happy for him overall. He came out of prison, passed his subjects. He has started life again. He has found other things to do, better things… it was very mind-blowing,” she said.

Another student, Dimitri Thomas, said that the forum was “…very educational. Anybody can change and go on the right path, depending on the type of place where you come from and the help they need”.

For Denzel Whittaker the session was “very inspiring because I’ve lost both parents and it put me on a right track to do better in life, and it is not too late to change. Change your company, do right things.”

Rajay Green remarked, “It made me get a good mindset that I don’t want to visit prison any time soon; to pay attention to my schoolwork.”

All the male students believed that Thomas’s message was important to be spread across high schools, especially to benefit other young men.