13552: Karshan: Pres. Aristide addresses prisoners during visit to prison Oct. 27, 2002 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's visit in the National penitentiary on the
occasion of the International Prisoners Day, October 27, 2002

Mr. Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice,
Distinguished members of our Private Cabinet,
Mr. Director General of the Police,
Dear Director Larose,
Mrs. Dean,

Good morning to all my sisters and brothers who are in prison.

With all authorities in the government who are here today, in the prison and
with those who are not here, we get together to give our greetings to all
Haitians who are in prison and all other citizens in other countries who are
in prison too. We will express those greetings with a big applaud of
solidarity.

When you are in prison, you have many close relatives who suffer, many
friends who suffer.

We will greet them with a strong applaud of recognition for them.

I thank you for this warm welcome and I congratulate you for the beautiful
work you accomplished here in the National Penitentiary. You may applaud,
because, really, you deserve it.

You don't only deserve a big applaud. You also deserve other things, which I
will explain when I am through.

I suppose you can guess what it is. Very well. Before I say anything, as a
big brother, in regards to my responsibilities, I will give you a few pieces
of advice. As the saying goes, if I have been in prison for one year, I can't
get discouraged on the last day. I came to encourage you all who are here and
other prisoners throughout Haiti on this big day when everyone across the
world is thinking about people who are in prison. I came to encourage you to
hold on, to stand strong and to bring up your morale.

That's the first piece of advice I share with you. The morale needs to be
good. One year didn't kill you, one more day won't kill you. Your morale
needs to be good. A prison is a school where you come to complete your
training, to increase your knowledge so that when you come out of prison, you
are better still.

This morning, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
Cabinet Director, the former Secretary of State Mrs. Gadère, the Director of
Police, we are proud of seeing the great work done here by Director Larose
and our favorite ones.

We are really proud. We are proud because.

Good! Compliments to you! Compliments! Very good!

We are proud when we see the beautiful work you do here. The paintings, the
beautiful paintings, look at the way Danash explained the great wonders you
accomplish with your hands, in the paintings, in the drawings. How could we
not be proud of you when we look at the beautiful furniture you made for
computers, when we see how this place is clean, when we see the championships
you organize with prisoners as both referees and players!

So thank you for this beautiful example you give by putting all your gifts,
all your talents, all your intelligence, all your knowledge, all your
experience and make that day such a great day. I am not shy to wish you a
very good day! Have a good day!

When I walked through the kitchen, I saw how the cooks were happy in spite of
the great heat. That made me realize that this is a place where people's
rights were respected. And every day, we will make more efforts to make you
happier while you are here.

In one of the two paintings you offered me, you show Haiti in a jar, to show
how the country is under an embargo. And if it wasn't for that economic
embargo, we could do so much more wonders here in the prison.

In the second painting you offered the First Lady, we see the scales of
justice. The First Lady is a lawyer, so she knows the importance of justice.
Before she can come and meet you, she sends a message. She says that there
are 1807 accused persons here and only 201 have received their sentence.
Justice must shine for the others.

The third painting you gave me is a portrait of myself. That means a lot to
me. It means that, if you paint my portrait and give it to me, I am with you,
your suffering becomes my suffering and I will work harder for those who
haven't been tried yet so you can see the light of justice shine, so you
don't continue to suffer before the light of justice shines on you.

Your morale needs to stay up, it needs to be good, and that is what we, the
authorities and myself, came here to tell you. Before I came here this
morning, I thought of a person who had a great will and I can tell you a
little bit about him to help you keep your morale up. He was an Indian and
his name was Chridar Chilal. He was born in 1937 and in 1952, he decided to
never cut his fingernails again. He spent 40 years without cutting his
fingernails. After 40 years, his shortest fingernail measured 102 centimeters
and the longest measured 132 centimeters. That man had great will. He took a
decision and after 40 years, we saw the result. Chridar Chilal was the man
with the longest fingernails in the world.

I need for this story to bring up the morale of every sister and brother of
mine who are in prison. This way, you can spend the time you have left in
prison, whether it is a few days or whatever time you have left, in
developing your intelligence even more. Because when you come out of prison,
the country will need you to help it continue to progress. Another story
comes to mind. It is about a man called Philippe Maurice. On May 25, 1982,
President François Mitterand looked at his file. Philippe Maurice had
received a death sentence. He is the last French man who was given clemency
by President François Mitterand. He had received a death sentence and was
given clemency on May 25, 1981.

When he came out of prison, he continued to develop his brain and, in 1995,
he got a doctorate degree in history. That's what I wish for many of you who
are here in prison.

I wish that when you get out of here, you will make your intelligence shine
like the sun with the great wonders you will do with the alphabetization
program started here and other great wonders you will do throughout the
country. I congratulate literacy instructors. And in order to accomplish
those wonders, you need to keep a good morale. In order to accomplish those
wonders, you can't stay in here forever.

There are 1807 accused persons here. 201 have received their sentence. What
decision did we take for the rest? 3 decisions:

First decision: In the next 24 or 48 hours, many of you will get their
freedom back.

Second decision: Everything we'll do, we do it in accordance with the law,
since we are building a State of Right. Everything we do, we do it in respect
for human rights since we are building a country where everyone must respect
human's rights. All prisoners are humans, so their rights must be respected.
So it is not normal that some prisoners haven't seen a judge yet. Together
with the Minister of Justice, we took measures so that tomorrow, he will come
with authorities involved to hear those of you who haven't been heard by a
judge yet. This way, as the week goes by, some of you will get their freedom
back, in accordance with the law.

It is not normal that a person who has done a small thing get a very heavy
punishment while some people who have perpetrated heavy crimes are still
running free in the streets before they come in here.

That's what the state authorities say. That's why the Minister of Justice,
together with authorities involved, have been working on these files, even
before I came here. They are working today, they will work tomorrow and will
continue to work after tomorrow. We need to do it in order. That's why we
can't free too many people at the same time. We will do it according to the
law, with discipline. So as I said earlier, one year didn't kill you, one day
more will not kill you either. You need a little patience so that the light
of justice can shine on you.

Third decision: Even though there is an unfair economic embargo on us and we
don't have much money to work many great wonders in the prisons throughout
the country, you see how things are improving. In the government, we have
decided that this week, even though there isn't much money at our
disposition, we will increase the national penitentiary's budget so that the
director can have more means to do more for you still.

Thank you! Be brave and have a nice day!

Now, I am speaking to you as your brother. I got the information that almost
all prisoners have a letter ready to give me or they are getting one ready.
Here is how we will proceed. Since there are many of you, there will be a
special box put up during the day in which you can put all your letters. I
give you the guarantee that it is the director himself, Cliford Larose, who
will come and give me the box in my hands.

Director Cliford Larose will come to the National Palace and give me the box
himself. So even if you don't give me your letter yourself right now, you can
be certain that if you put it in the box the director will point out to you,
I will get it.

With these letters, I will have more information on the people who wrote
them. So while the Minister of Justice, the Court's Doyen, the Judge, the
Prosecutor and the Commission will hear you, I can follow your cases easier
with the information I will have in hand. Don't forget that Christmas is
coming, New Years is coming and each time we get to these dates, there is a
presidential order for pardon. So your letters will help me understand
better, so if you are not free yet by then, you can get your freedom back at
that time.

So there is no problem with the letters you will write for me. Put them in
the box and I will get them in my hands for sure.

Thank you.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Port-au-Prince

10/27/2002