Mar 18 2008
A HOLIDAY in the Caribbean sun changed Karite Clacher's life forever.
Caught in an undercover drugs sting, he served five years in a cramped
cell on the Communist-run island of Cuba despite pleading his innocence.
The 43-year-old now uses that experience to help jailbirds in this
country and he tells ROBERT DEX why his ordeal was a blessing in disguise
IT WAS November 8, 1998 when Karite Clacher landed in the Cuban capital
of Havana.
Eight days later a group of four men, posing as holidaymakers, walked
through the same airport on a flight from Jamaica. The Cuban police gave
them time to collect their suitcases before arresting them. They were
carrying 15 kilos of cocaine - worth a fortune on the street.
But rather than sling them in a cell, the police let them loose to keep
them under surveillance.
That led them to another English holidaymaker who had befriended Karite
days earlier.
On November 16 he was in a cafe with his new friend, but left when they
were joined by the four Jamaicans. That was when the undercover Cuban
cops sprang into action. "I was in the cafe and I saw my friend sit down
beside someone else I didn't know," Karite said. "I sensed something
dodgy was going on so I walked out and that was when the cops grabbed
me. "They were plain clothes guys who jumped me and asked me for my
passport and ID and asked if I knew the guy in the cafe." The officers
arrested three other Brits along with the Jamaican gang.
But Karite says he just assumed they had made a mistake and everything
would be cleared up.
"I had been there for eight days and the sun was shining and we were
having a nice holiday," he said. "But then I was interrogated and later
they took me out of the police station. I was taken to another place and
there were a lot of soldiers and armed police and people pointing guns
at me."
That "place" was Combinado Del Este prison, just outside Havana.
It is notorious and counts murderers, rapists and political prisoners
among its 13,500 inmates.
With no visiting rights, little contact with a lawyer, and thousands of
miles away from home, Karite was left in the prison for two years while
he waited for his case to come to trial.
Karite grew up in Peckham and New Cross and was working in a local
bakery before his Cuban nightmare.
He said: "It's a very high security prison with some very serious people
inside.
"I spent two years there in a 5ft by 11ft cell and slept on a piece of
slab covered with a bit of cardboard and there was a hole in the ground
for a toilet.
"You are in there by yourself and you have got no sun or exercise and
food was a handful of rice and an egg.
"In the morning you got a hard bit of bread and sugar and water.
"When it rained we got wet as well - even though the cell had a roof -
because it had so many holes in it, and it was freezing cold."
The harsh regime took its toll on many of the prisoners and Karite said
he was told about several prisoners committing suicide, despite only
having limited contact with his fellow inmates.
"Some of the Cubans spoke a little English and I learnt some Spanish so
I could communicate," he said. "I remember one time I saw a man walking
past my cell who had cut his wrists.
"I knew I had to be strong to come back and tell my story so people who
feel they are having a hard time will see I've had a harder time and
survived."
One way he stayed strong was by writing hundreds of poems and songs in a
bid to keep his mind occupied.
He said: "I always asked for paper so I could write. I wrote about 100
poems and 300 songs while I was in there."
After two years' waiting behind the bars of Combinado Del Este, Karite
was told his trial was about to start. It lasted just 30 minutes.
His plea of innocence fell on deaf ears and his time in court was
quickly over.
"During the trial I had an interpreter but you don't really believe them
as you don't speak their language.
"My charge sheet was for possession and trafficking class-A drugs and
the prosecutor was asking for 30 years for me."
In fact, the sentence would see Karite spend another three years in a
different Cuban prison before the authorities gave in and he was shipped
back to Wandsworth prison in 2003.
While he was there he became a prison listener - a type of informal
social worker -- helping other inmates. He then went on to a lower
category prison, HMP Springhill in Aylesbury, where he started college.
When he was finally freed in 2007, Karite started work with the St Giles
Trust charity in Camberwell supporting ex-prisoners.
He said: "When I was in prison I worked as a counsellor and I was
helping a lot of people on suicide watch.I studied housing law as well
and can advise people on mental health issues and alcohol problems.
"I go into prisons and when people come out I help them find housing and
training.
"What happened in Cuba totally changed my life and I had time to think,
not only about my life, but about other people's lives as well and the
destruction that is going on. It was a blessing in disguise."
Now he is often the first person a prisoner sees when they step outside
the gates as a free man, and his job is to make sure they don't fall
into the same trap as many ex-offenders and end up back behind bars.
"I get hardcore prisoners, bank robbers and violent people that I
counsel," he said. "They know where I am coming from and they listen to
me and not one of them has gone back to prison.
"Cuba taught me that if you can't live with yourself you can't live with
anyone and I want to put that message to people.
"Every prison I go to people know me and knows something about the guy
from Cuba who is so positive.
"I conquered my fears so I can walk back into prison with empathy for
the people inside."
No comments:
Post a Comment