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