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After spending one year in jail and over nine years as a prisoner at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, 39-year-old Andre Thomas was pardoned and released to be treated, after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a rare form of cancer.
In 2010, Thomas was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of shooting with intent and illegal possession of firearm, following what he described as a last resort to protect himself against a man who had frequently attacked him in his community. Thomas told the Jamaica Observer that the morning before he sought a gun to defend himself, he was shot at by his alleged attacker and he reported the incident to the police.
"Living in Hellshire Heights, you have a few yutes there who always want to do anybody anything and get away with it. One day my baby mother called me and told me that she want some pampers. So I went over there for some pampers and a yute just back a gun in my chest and there was a next yute further down. So, I run off and go to a security post and I heard two gunshots," Thomas recalled.
"So I called my mother and my brother and explained to them that somebody just shot after me. I even went down to the station and made a report. The police come and guh dung a some a dem yard and never find some a dem. The second incident, I did something because I defended myself," he told the Sunday Observer.
The following night, Thomas said, the man allegedly returned, armed to attack him because of his report to the police.
"They really pushed me to get a firearm to defend myself because I found out that if I don't defend myself, I would die. I didn't have a weapon before. That night, they really come at me. My brother told me, 'Yuh have to get something to defend yuh self because dem boy yah will kill yuh.' It's not like I see anybody and do them anything just like that.
"He came back that night and he got shot. And the same guy came in court to send me to prison. That's how I went to prison. The whole community know. At that time I was 27 years old."
Being incarcerated, Thomas, who fathers a 12-year-old son, said he tried his best to lead an exemplary life. He was a strong advocate for policy changes, resulting in prisoners being able to take books into their cells.
Personally, he uplifted himself through the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations, securing five Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) subjects.
"I got five CXC subjects: Mathematics, English, human and social biology, social studies and accounts. My mother and my father stood there for me through everything. And I have my 12-year-old son that I love so much, so I have to be an example. My son will be 13 December coming," he said.
Thomas also became a member of the Stand Up For Jamaica (SUFJ) programme at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, and was a tutor to other inmates.
"The feedback was very good. I taught them mathematics. I teach a lot of inmates who are very older than me. They gravitate to me and I sit down and talk with them and reason with them and explain to them that things can be better after prison. And I was a member of Stand Up for Jamaica for a good little while before I started teaching."
Executive director of SUFJ, Carla Gullotta, told the Sunday Observer that Thomas is one of the "most well rehabilitated persons" in the penal system.
"He was at Tower Street and he did all the rehabilitation programmes. He got subjects and then he became a teacher. He has been an excellent teacher. He has been motivating most of them to be at the school and to be serious," Gullotta said.
But while excelling behind bars, Thomas fell ill and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called plasma cell. And so, cancerous plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow and crowd out healthy blood cells.
Gullotta added: "I wrote to the commissioner of corrections and then I wrote to the governor general to have him released, and both of them answered me right away. The governor general approved it very quickly.
"He is on medication. We have been paying for some of his treatment, but I don't know how longer we will be able to support him. He should do a surgery, but I did a fund-raising that didn't do well at all. To do the surgery in Cuba, it is US$40,000 and we only raised US $2,000."
Thomas said he started experiencing symptoms in late 2018, which was the beginning of an excruciating experience.
"I used to juggle ball in the mornings. I started feeling a strain between my legs and I thought it was the ball playing. I went to the doctor and they gave me some pain tablets. I went to National Chest Hospital first and they took some test and the found out that it wasn't anything like that. I went to KPH (Kingston Public Hospital) and did some other test and found out I had multiple myeloma.
"It was very hard mentally, physically, and emotionally. I never went in prison with no type of sickness, so it was really difficult. It's a lot of pain. Even now I am in pain."
After 10 years behind bars, he was released in December 2020 to facilitate treatment. His father, 76-year-old Ansel Thomas, told the Sunday Observer that he is grateful for his son's release.
"I am thankful because me and my wife were discussing it before, saying if they could release him so he can get treatment. And not just him alone, all patients in there that are going through this kinda thing. I was glad when it come through. It was like I got a million dollars. It's like Christmas came early. It was a Christmas present for me," elder Thomas related enthusiastically.
Further, commenting on his son's diagnosis, he said it came as a shocker.
"There is no history on both sides of the family that I know of. It is a difficult situation. It is very tough. And because of the COVID thing, everything limited. There's no work and no funds not coming in. My wife and I... the two of us are retirees."
In addition, the elder said he was moved when he heard warders at Tower Street speak of his son in such high regard.
"When I used to carry food for him, the warders speak highly about him. Sometimes when I go there, they say, 'Yuh think is your son? A fi wi boy dat.' Nobody talked bad about him. When he got dismissed, the warder told me to take care of him because he is brilliant. I feel good to hear that. Mi feel good," he said.
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