Prisoners Party At Tower Street

This was the title of the full-page article that appeared on page 2 of the Sunday Gleaner, Kingston's top newspaper on May 5, 2013.  On May 2, 2013, a historical concert as a collaboration between Grammy award winners Shaggy, Sly and Robbie and Art of Living took place at the TowerStreet maximum-security prison.  It was an amazing experience.  To begin the day, it was my first day at the max security prison and I was awestruck at the atmosphere and security procedures.  The facility itself looks like an old fort.  

There is barbed wire on top of the walls and iron gates protect the entrance to the prison itself.  When you knock on the door, it is opened every so slightly by armed officers inside only to ask your business.   We arrived early to assist the set up, but at the prison, it is chaos.  All the media and production people there for the Shaggy concert have not been allowed into the facility to set up.  Subsequently, there is a process of going through a series of ‘red tape’ steps that takes an unaccounted for 1.5 hours to get everyone in that needs to be in.  Frustrations and anxiety are running high.  But finally, everyone is in.  

As we wait to be escorted into the area where the concert will take place (at the prison, moving around anywhere requires escorts), a truck is about to depart the facility.  I am stunned as a man with a very large machine gun pointed straight at the truck stands only a few feet away from me awaiting the truck to pass slowly towards the exit of the penitentiary.  He stands ready to shoot while other officers inspect underneath the truck to make sure no prisoners are attempting to escape.  Everywhere I look, there are reminders that the men inside these walls are in captivity.  Every move they make is controlled and monitored.  I never really thought about what that meant until my first experience at Tower Street. 

         
Finally, we (Devan, I and all the media/production people) were brought into the main part of the prison.  Myself and one other woman were among the group and asked to walk in front of the group, so the officers could take particular care of us.  As I walked down the main walkway, flanked by metal fences, I could feel such a mix of energies.  One the one hand, the men were staring at us from the other side of the fences like caged animals.  I could feel the difference in the way the looked at us women and they would make comments to illustrate.  On the other hand, there seemed to be a very relaxed and a recreational feel to the place.  I assume this is because, in prison, there is a lot of downtime.  There’s no where to go, and for hours at a stretch nothing in particular to do.  Some men were playing games or listening to music.  Others were just sitting and our passing through provided a bit of the days entertainment. 

Despite the challenges early in the day, and a few more unexpected things (like Shaggy coming in about an hour late), all actually went very well.  The inmates, officers, and government officials who attended (the minister of security for all of Jamaica as well as high commissioners from a number of countries, etc)  were very happy and impressed by the end of the day.  I too was very impressed by the event which was the brain-child of Dushyant Savadia (DJ is short), Art of Living’s International Director in the Carribbean.  He came to Jamaica only about a year ago, and has built relationships and a reputation for the organization that afforded such an amazing event to occur.  He and his main support in Kingston, Manisha Shah (now also an AOL director) and her husband Sundeep, and a handful of volunteers were able to make all this a reality.  I was amazed how much this small team has been able to achieve with so few resources and practically no money at all.  Dushyant was able to convince Shaggy to take the Art of Living course and throw the concert at the prison at no-cost in the hopes that the publicity from this event will help generate interest and momentum to help many more across Jamaica.    So far it is proving to be true.  Art of Living has now become a regular part of the rehabilitation training the inmates have access to at both Tower Street men’s prison and Fort Augusta women’s prison.   

This is the first time a concert was delivered in a  maximum-security prison here in Jamaica and potentially the globe.  It was delivered by the security team at Tower Street without a hitch - quite impressive if you ask me.  But most importantly, I realized if you put your mind to something, there's no reason you can't achieve it.  DJ came here not knowing anyone just over a year ago and to be able to pull off something like this, takes incredible dedication, faith and perseverance.