What’s It Like? Bermudian Jailed Abroad

As readers are aware, there are presently three Bermudians incarcerated in a Puerto Rican prison, awaiting trial on charges of possessing 700lbs of cannabis.

Bernews was aware of a prior case in which a Bermudian was caught smuggling drugs and incarcerated in Puerto Rico. Checking official records shows that at one point he was held in the exact same prison the three Bermudians are presently being held in. We asked this gentleman to describe his experience in Puerto Rico, which appears below.

The three men who are presently incarcerated were arrested after their boat was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in December 2010. Customs agents alleged they found 16 bales of marijuana and one brick of hashish, weighing a total of 319.8 kilograms [701.58lbs]

The three men are being held in federal prison at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The prison was activated in 1993, as a facility under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Justice. Its primary mission is to house pretrial and holdover inmates as a service to the U.S. District Courts and the U.S. Marshals Service.

This information is rather out of date as this gentleman was incarcerated in 1999, however for interest’s sake it appears below.

He planned to smuggle cocaine back to Bermuda, however was caught by Puerto Rican officials while in their jurisdiction. Having been caught “red handed”, he pleaded guilty in a Puerto Rican Court, and was sentenced to five months in prison.

He explained he “only got five months” in prison, as he only had a small amount of cocaine as it was actually a “practice run,” with plans to repeat the smuggling – using the same method – with a far larger amount later on. Obviously the second run never came to fruition.

He said his first entry into the initial holding center was fine, as the officials had failed to find a small stash of cocaine on his person – so he shared the cocaine with the other inmates, and they all had what he termed a “party.”

He was then transported to prison when he said he knew things were “getting serious.” He, and the other prisoners, were herded onto a bus, all shackled together in a line chained to each other. In addition, they were all chained at their feet. He described as as “really awkward.”

The bus driver and officers were in the front area of the bus, which was partitioned off, and the officers were heavily armed. When traveling, the bus had a Police cars escorting them, both in the front and back.

When he got off the bus, all the prisoners were strip searched including a full body cavity search, told to get showers and given jumpsuits to wear, as well as other items of clothes.

The average daily routine consisted of having breakfast at 7am, then going into a communal area until noon when lunch was served. They were then locked in their cells to mid afternoon, and then were released back into the communal area. Dinner was served at 5pm, and then they were locked down for the night at 9pm. He greatly stressed that it was extremely hot in the prison, and prisoners would be drenched in sweat.

The prison was divided into sections, which appeared to be for different gangs. He said he thinks there may have been a separate section that certain types of foreigners were housed in, as he saw Americans in court but there were none in his prison section. He is not sure of that however.

He said in this prison he initially experienced severe issues due to “the way he talked” they thought he was an American, and many prisoners there hated America. He tried to explain he was from Bermuda, which didn’t go down too well as many prisoners were not familiar with Bermuda. There were also difficulties in communicating this, since most prisoners didn’t speak English and he spoke no Spanish.

He said that an older prisoner who spoke English knew of Bermuda and assured the other prisoners it did exist and backed him up. He said that “saved him, as alot of people wanted to hurt me at first.”

He said the gang culture was extremely dominant in prison [as compared to Bermuda], with some prisoners having tattoos to signify their gang affiliation. Gangs warred over turf inside the prison, as certain gangs “controlled” the hallways and sections of the communal areas.

Gangs also warred over drugs, which he said were smuggled in and readily available in prison. This individual was a drug addict at the time [he is now clean], and said he obtained drugs by using the canteen. Meaning he would use money sent to buy items like soda, cigarettes and candy – then trade the items for drugs.

He said fights were not uncommon. Some prisoners would gather ashtrays, and roll up all the cigarette butts to make their own. At times the desire for the contents of an ashtray would cause violence, one incident he recalled someone was stabbed with a sharpened toothbrush during an ashtray related altercation.

He said the greatest instigator to violence was food, as “there never seemed to be enough.” He said chicken was served around once or twice a week, whereas most the time the meals seemed to be a steady stream of beans and rice. Days chicken was served, tensions ran high and fights were  common.

He said he saw “at least three guys seriously hurt over chicken, and I’m talking about messed up bad too. The guards came, breaking it up. All over chicken. Only the strong survived when it came to chicken. Once in a while pork chops would come out, and it would be the same thing again.”

The most serious chicken-related incident he recalls ended up with another prisoner sustaining severe injuries, including having a large amount of chicken forcibly shoved down his throat till the point he choked and was rushed away by guards to obtain medical care.

He also said the prison was self contained. It had doctor’s office, dentist office and “you could break your leg and not leave prison.”

After serving his five month sentence, he also served another month in an immigration detention center while he awaited deportation to Bermuda. He said the immigration center was a “big hall with cots laid out,” and there was enough food served, minimal violence and no real gang culture. He said the immigration center was considerably less traumatic then the “real prison.”

After his month in the immigration center, he was escorted back to Bermuda by two American law enforcement officers, flying to New York then through to Bermuda. He was handcuffed until he was on the second flight, from NY to Bermuda.  He has been permanently barred from entering the United States and Puerto Rico again.

He has also been imprisoned in Bermuda, and said the main difference from our prison was the high level of violence and the way gangs controlled the prisons. He also said “out there they don’t offer really try and help or anything. You just do your time. Here they have classes and stuff to try and help you.”

Recalling that this was back in 1999, his agreed payment for smuggling the cocaine was a free trip and $1,500.

We asked the gentleman [who is now off drugs, gainfully employed and no longer involved in the criminal world] what he thought looking back, and he simply said “I was really stupid back then.”

We asked him what he would tell someone else if they considered doing what he did. He unequivocally said he would not advise it under any circumstances, and said there is “not enough money to pay you to be in that prison.”

“All these years messing about with drugs, all I got out of it was a habit, locked up, stoplisted and nowhere to stay. I have nothing to show for all those years,” he said. “Once I got clean and got a job, I got a car and somewhere to stay.”

#InternationalCrime #PrisonConditions

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