Deportee would prefer prison in America – Doesn’t value freedom in Jamaica
Shoemaker Gully on Trafalgar Road is the ‘home’ of a number of homosexual males who are often labelled as robbers. The gully bank is also the dwelling of Miguel Williams, who shares his makeshift home with his female partner.
Upon seeing the news team, Williams quickly put away a stash of white substance, before welcoming THE STAR to his abode. Cardboard and pieces of board serve as his bed. But according to the 41-year-old, his big dreams were all shattered by his wrong choices in life.
During his younger years, Williams had aspirations of becoming a journalist, which led him to study psychology and economics at Nassau Community College in Long Island, New York.
“I got in a whole lot of trouble with the law. I used drugs and was also a dealer, and I got caught as I was trying to traffic two and a half keys of coke across the border of New York to Connecticut. We didn’t know there was an informant in the car, and that’s how the thing break down. I couldn’t dodge the charges, so I just took a plea deal,” he said.
In 2007, Williams was deported to Jamaica after spending four years behind bars, but the ex-convict said that he would trade his freedom in Jamaica for a spot in a prison in the United States.
“I would rather still be doing time overseas than be here. Life is easier in the penitentiary. The mentality of people in Jamaica is different from what I am used to. I left here when I was two, and it is still somewhat hard to adapt to Jamaica’s way of living same way. I tried making a better life, but people let me down so I just segregate myself,” Williams said.
COMFORTABLE LIVING
“For the past 11 years that I have been back in Jamaica, I have lived in seven parishes. But this (gully bank) is where home is for the past year or so. I share this dwelling with my wife, and we are comfortable here. We have so much in common because we have been through so much, but we have hung on despite the challenges and stick together,” he said, as he slid a small cutlass under a piece of cardboard.
Williams, who has a good grasp of the English Language, said that he is able to survive with the weekly contributions given to him by his family. He also said that his living conditions are by choice.
Still hooked on cocaine, the addict says he frequently buys the drug from a dealer in New Kingston. He, however, warns against the practise and implores the youth not to follow in his footsteps.
“Drugs are highly overrated and tiring on the body. I would want to stop one day, but nothing happens before time. I have entered into rehabs quite a couple of times, but one cannot really change unless they want to. I will not hide my addiction to drugs because I take coke like it out a style, but I want to tell everyone that it’s not a good habit. It’s nothing for anyone to take up as a hobby,” Williams said.