‘My dream is to see my son graduate in 2 years’

Prison life has robbed Grantley Bramble of basically everything he holds dear. However, he is hoping that incarceration will not rob him of the opportunity to see his 14-year-old son graduate from secondary school in two years’ time.{{more}}

Like most persons, Bramble had a blueprint of what life for him and his family should have been. Many of his plans were dashed, however, he is still hopeful that one of his dreams will be fulfilled. “I still have faith and hope that I will come out in time so I could see that piece of my dream…. I still have faith that I will see my son graduate,” Bramble said.

Bramble was at the time addressing a march and rally held in commemoration of the first anniversary of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force and Concerned Residents of Redemption Sharpes and its Environs (CRRSE) organization at Redemption Sharpes on Sunday August 29, 2010.

Bramble, who was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 1997 when his son was just 10 months old, said he had always envisaged taking his children to school and guiding them along their career paths. The former teacher said he had already chosen the schools he wanted his children to attend. “I map them out and I know who I wanted to be my doctor, scientist and lawyer,” the father of seven disclosed.

A passionate Bramble said it is disheartening to know that his children have moved from “single digits into teenagers” without him being there to see their progression.

“I have one son left in school and graduation coming soon and I can’t be there…sometimes I does lay down on me back and stare at the ceiling and when I can’t tek it no more, I does take a shirt and put it over me face and I go bawl so the other jail men can’t see me,” Bramble lamented.

Stating that he has already lost 13 years of his life and 13 years of seeing his children grow up, Bramble said he was able to reunite with one of his sons at a funeral he was allowed to attend three weeks ago. Sharing part of the conversation between them, Bramble said his son told him it was hard for their mother to raise them alone without a father figure present.

“He say ‘Daddy, yuh think is easy fo mommy alone bring we up?’ When he tell me so, it tear out my heart,” Bramble said, as persons in the crowd shook their heads from side to side sympathetically.

Since his incarceration, Bramble is said to have made significant strides towards becoming a better individual and moulding the life of other prisoners. Bramble teaches fellow inmates, and has written several songs and choral speeches which were performed at various prison concerts.

He also warned young men to do something constructive with their lives and steer clear of criminality and avoid prison at all cost. “Set your minds straight. Round there (prison) does make you feel small,” Bramble advised.