CLS: Would you say that from
everything that has happened it is
fate or nature that redirected your
path?
YNA: That is what someone read-
ing this will make out of it. When
I try to see how life would have
been, I realize that someway,
somehow I knew there will be
prison time in there.
CLS: And you were prepared for it.
YNA: No one prepares for prison
time. The only way to prepare for
prison time is to have your lawyer
money. If it is time for prison you
can’t do anything about it, you just
have to go. In my case paying the
best lawyer couldn’t even get me
out because it was in my system.
CLS: Are you are going to use your
platform to push the agenda for a
better legal and justice system for
inmates?
YNA: Yeah! But here is the thing,
we live in a society which frowns
on prison issues so talking about
prison stuff is not what people
want to hear. My coming EP
dubbed Home Street Home is one
that I speak a lot about my prison
experiences.
CLS: You mentioned that you are
going to talk a lot about your ex-
periences in prison. Tell me about
your typical day in prison.
YNA: A typical day in prison, the
doors are opened at 5am then we
wait for the first batch of officers
to report and do the head count at
6am. Around 6:30, banku will be
served which is actually supposed
to be for lunch. Around 7:30am
breakfast is served. The soup for
the banku gets ready around 11:30.
You will sometimes find people
32 | Colossium . December 2018
HOME
STREET
HOME
“
What I
will tell
my young-
er self is
to continue
being daring
but not step
the same
places I did.
10years ago
we did not
have the
technology
we have now
so you do not
have to take
the risks that
I did.”
munching on the banku like pie
without soup because the soup has
not been served on time. The soup
is so awful we have to recook it,
add pepper and spices just to give
it some taste.
CLS: You cook in there.
YNA: Yeah! We are allowed to
cook; they know the food is bad so
we are allowed to do that. At 1pm,
the bell is sounded and we have to
go inside for a head count which
takes about an hour. At 2pm the
afternoon officers will take over.
Sometimes it sucks because some
inmates are absent and cannot
be accounted for, when that hap-
pens we are kept until those in-
mates are accounted for. I actually
missed a visit once because of such
a situation. On a good day, when
the head count goes well, we are
left to have the rest of the day to
ourselves. The day ends at 4:30pm;
by 5pm you should be inside but if
you have some privileges you can
stay out till like 6:30pm.
CLS: How is the survival? Is it
like we see in Hollywood movies
where prison survival is based on
allegiance or affiliations?
YNA: I was coming to that. Well,
fortunately or unfortunately for
me my story was published on the
front page of Daily Graphic so the
inmates knew of my coming. In-
terestingly, when you get to prison
it is like one big family. I met some-
one in there whom we shared a
mutual friend. Interestingly, when
you are imprisoned for drug relat-
ed charges you are not considered
as criminal over there - which is a
good thing. I mean, I’m not a crimi-
nal [laughs].