Hey Journal: A Stopover At The City Jail
4:16 AM
Hey
Journal,
So, we had this Educational Trip last
week, and normally, we were asked to do a reflection paper about our trip. Here’s
a piece of what I wrote, which I think was worthy of some space.
A STOPOVER AT THE CITY JAIL
It was the day before
the Valentine’s Day when we had our Educational Field Trip (or what I would call
an Educational Stopover because we only stayed for around 3 hours) in Cagayan
De Oro City Jail – Male Dormitory in Lumbia. The travel time was long enough to
finish 4 Britney Spears tracks that lasts around 4 minutes each.
 |
| Le Main Entrance |
Like what everybody normally felt, we feared of entering the City Jail,
especially in the Male Dormitory, for, as what we thought, was not safe. I was
definitely wrong the moment I stepped inside. I saw faces, hungry for a healthy
conversation aside from their jail mates, waiting to talk to someone else, aside
from the people who gave religious lectures.
We were surprised to see a mini-program that was prepared for us. We
were able to meet and hear words from the Jail Inspector, the Warden, and got
entertained as well by the inmates’ Top Performer as he sings their hymn, and
belted out Eric Santos’ winning piece in Star
in a Million, “This Is The Moment”.
Then, the time comes when we get to have a one-on-one conversation with
one of the inmates. I had a chance to talk to a cheerful and well-conversed Johnny,
a 46-year-old detainee, who was charged with cases about drugs. He grew up with
the absence of his Dad who was in the US Marine Corps, he immediately opened up
why he was there and what made him crossed the line.
Inferiority Complex. Those were the words that he uttered, and was the
main reason why he crossed the line. In Layman’s term, Inferiority Complex
means Low Self-Esteem. As a child, he thought he was doomed to be a weakling,
as his stepfather and half brothers would tell him that he’s intellectually
dull for someone who’s a son of an American. This continued until he graduated
College in Cebu City. He got married and had two kids and had all sorts of job
but eventually they ended up being a broken family due to undisclosed reasons.
He went back here in
Mindanao, thinking of nowhere else to go. That was when he met his friends who
influenced him into dealing with drugs. Being a newbie in this
biting-the-bullet type of deal, he was caught, while his friends, who were in
trouble a lot of times, managed to escape.
For the whole 9 years
he stayed in the City Jail, and as he about to face a light at the end of the
tunnel in a few months, I asked about his plans. He smiled, with a sparkle in
his eyes, and honestly answered, “I don’t
know.” His following words surprised me as he continued saying, “If only I were to decide, I think I’m going
to head back to Cebu, charge my wife with Adultery, because she is living with
another man right now and she had another set of kids...”
By the word Kids, he paused, and told me he didn’t
know how to explain it to his now-teenage girls, because they thought he was
somewhere out of the country, when in fact he was just bidding his time here in
CDO City Jail.
It was a heartfelt
30-minute conversation. By the look on his eyes, I know he wanted to talk
something else, aside from his life in prison or anything else about his life.
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