Hispanics Behind Bars: Justice vs. Discrimination
Al Bermudez Pereira (49) - of a Puerto Rican heritage and raised in Brooklyn, found inspiration to portray in this book his 20 years of experience as a correctional officer in one of the most repressive facilities in the nation. Sing Sing located in Ossining, New York, is considered as the warehouse for society's worst criminals.
In his visual narrative Bermudez conveys the level of bravery and professionalism required for those who lock the gates behind them every morning to keep watch over men with extremely dangerous minds.
However, the Hispanic officer focused on circumstances that most impacted him concerning innocent people in jail and discrimination against Hispanics.
“In the book I mentioned that my Brother went to jail in 1983 for a crime he never committed. I knew, as many others, that he was serving a sentence he did not deserve.” Pereira said to ECO Latino Magazine. “Over the years I learned to recognize who were the innocent people in prison.
Bermudez said, his years working in Sing Sing helped keep his Spanish alive to assist Hispanics to communicate. He affirmed that these inmates were disadvantage because they didn’t speak English. This masked discrimination also extended to officers. In one passage of the book Bermudez describes a scene where he goes to the aid of a prisoner who attempted suicide by hanging himself inside his cell.
While Bermudez managed to cut the knot on the sheet, the inmate was being held up by an Afro American officer who also performed resuscitation techniques until a white paramedic arrived to place the inmate on a gurney. As a result, he received heroic commendations, while the Afro American and Hispanic officers received nothing for their efforts and courage to save a life.
The narration rapidly scans each corner of the correctional facility until the reader is transported to the cell blocks where the youngest prisoners reside. Here the reader confronts the oppressive darkness of all the corruption and injustice society can inflict.
By Maria D’Adamo, Managing Editor
ECO Latino Magazine
August 2007
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