No one ever expected them to succeed. Many people were sure they would end up back behind bars.

Sunday Newsday tracks the progress of eight men who won their cases or got out on bail. Their lives outside prison are featured in a series on inmates from Debbie Jacob’s CXC English classes and debate teams.

Why did these men make it when so many others failed?

Read their stories of redemption, rehabilitation and reinvention in the Sunday Newsday.

Part IV

Sydney Marc Friday sat in a church in Laventille where retired businessman Noble Philip held a special screening of Kim Johnson’s documentary film Wishing for Wings.

Students in Philip’s homework supervision class and their parents appeared riveted to the story about Friday and my CXC English language class in the Youth Training Centre (YTC).

[caption id="attachment_1047002" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sydney Marc Friday...small steps to success - Photo by Miquel Galofre[/caption]

Watching the documentary doesn’t get easier for Friday. Each time he sees it, he faces the death of his classmate Jahmai Donaldson, who had his life on track, but was shot dead while helping a neighbour clear a piece of land.

“Police believed the neighbour was the gunman’s target, because he recently had an altercation with someone in a fete, and he took the most bullets from the automatic rifle,” said Friday.

That doesn’t mitigate Friday’s grief.

Friday, 32, originally from Vance River, Point Fortin, walked out of YTC in February 2012, after serving a three-year sentence for armed robbery.

Knowing the challenges of living in the place where his life had taken a wrong turn, he eventually moved to Tobago in 2017. He returned to Trinidad in 2020, seeking more job opportunities, and since then has lived with various relatives around the country.

His mother lives in England and wants him to migrate, but Friday wants to prove himself in this country.

“It was easier to live in Tobago, in the sense that not many people knew me. It was a chance to do something new without the stereotype of coming from YTC.

"On the flip side, it was harder for me, not knowing anyone there. I had to adjust and always wonder, what will happen when they do find out about me?

“Even after all this time, there's still a stigma about coming out of YTC. I never made any big jail, but as soon as people hear YTC, they think jail."

Friday earns a meagre living by doing agriculture, construction and electrical work, which he learned in YTC.

“I just survive with little jobs. Currently, I have a little stall in Point Fortin where I sell vegetables, water, sweet drinks and snacks.”

He lives for his creative writing and music. In YTC, Friday filled notebooks with stories of close-knit, poor neighbourhoods. In one story, an elderly woman is the pillar of hope and strength of the village.

He won a calypso contest in YTC with Nah Born a Criminal, which he sings in the documentary.

[caption id="attachment_1047004" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sydney Marc Friday during the filing of the