SPOT VALLEY, St James — Students attending the education ministry’s Anti-Gang Town Hall meeting at Spot Valley High School on Wednesday were given a sobering account of conditions faced by people in custody.

“Jail nuh nice. Any of you ever go down to the jail house in Montego Bay? No? It is something to think about,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Andrea Murray told the students gathered.

In warning them to steer clear of gangs, she did not hold back as she gave graphic details of conditions at Freeport lock-up in Montego Bay.

“You don’t have a dining table to eat around, so you eat where you mess. You only have a bucket right there in the cell. The cell is made to hold two persons; there are five or six, or seven or eight men right there in that little space with that little bucket,” revealed the senior cop.

Murray, who serves as national safe school coordinator, also explained that support from outside was often insufficient to ease the difficulties faced by inmates.

“When their mommy carry the food, no matter how delicious it smells or taste, you have to eat right there,” she said.

Murray was among several panellists who shared insights on the issue of gangs in schools and how to address the growing phenomenon. She urged students to recognise the consequences of their actions and understand how poor decisions could affect their future.

“Let us say, for instance, that you are caught with a firearm. You know what is the minimum sentence for a firearm? Fifteen years,” she said.

“Are we willing to give up 15 years of our lives? And remember that there is a magazine in that firearm; how many rounds in there? So you know how many years for having just one round? That’s five years,” she further explained.

Students gathered, Wednesday, at Spot Valley High School in St James for an Anti-Gang town hall meeting.

Murry noted that, in many cases, some youngsters find themselves in such situations out of rebellion. She stressed that they need to recognise the serious implications of their choices.

“You are 15 or 16 now… you are going to say, ‘Bwoy it rough on ghetto youth.’ But it is the choice that we make in life that makes us or breaks us. We have a responsibility: Do I want to go down this road, do I want to take this road, because there are two roads before us,” she suggested.

“The narrow road is the one that your CXC subjects are on. You’re going to fall, but you can get up. You’re gonna get a little bruise here and there, but we can get up. But the other road is the road sometimes of no return — so you gone down a jail,” she added.

Murray implored students to recognise that they are ultimately responsible for making the most of opportunities available to them.

“Life is a choice, so we can tell ourselves we don’t care; you have to, because some persons enjoy learning from their own mistakes and sometimes the price is just too high to pay,” she said.

“Think about your future, think about what you want out of life. Do I want to be a part of a gang? Because guess what, you may not get caught now but what about later when you change and you are now a doctor or a pastor. We’ll have to come and take you from off the pulpit for the crime you had committed,” she warned.

The forum provided an opportunity for speakers to engage students in discussions about the impact of gangs on schools and communities, as well as the role of various stakeholders in preventing young people from becoming involved in criminal activity.

Participants also examined factors that contribute to students joining gangs, the implications of such involvement, and the responsibility of parents and communities, alongside the influence of peer pressure.

During the event, Richard Troupe, national coordinator for safety and security in schools at the education ministry, also urged students to stay away from gangs and focus on more positive alternatives through education, as he encouraged them to “step outta gang, step in a greatness”.