Isaac Mbilini has been an inmate since 2007, and is serving a sentence for armed robbery and murder.
He decided to share his seven-year journey of self-discovery, guilt and forgiveness through a series of poems. He said he had remained remorseful throughout his incarceration and understood that he was the only one accountable for his actions.
Mbilini said he discovered his passion and talent for writing while in prison, “I see the bad things that are happening in our country. I have a strong conviction within me and, although I have committed such terrible atrocities, I want to condemn the actions of others.”
He further stressed that he wanted to earn an honest living and show society that he had learnt from his mistakes. He said crime was not the answer to any situation and there were no shortcuts in life.
Mblini is making a plea to the community to help him publish his book. “If anyone is interested in publishing my book or knows of a publisher who would be interested, please assist me with this,” he said.
Here is one of Mbilini’s poems entitled In the Arms of Crime:
In the arms of crime, where precious souls perished, though there are too many emotional scars and physical scars that are carried by many.
Too many souls who left this world through crime are troubled by peace they cannot find.
Through the arms of crime I remember Lucky Dube, Luke Tibbett and Teagrin Morris and many other victims of crime.
Through the violent crime against Annene Booysen, who was brutally raped and killed.
The crime showed that there is a problem in our way of thinking. In my conscious, I try to reason with myself but nothing I found.
I only see arms with hands thatawre stained with the blood of the innocent.
Today Luke Tibbett and Teagrin Morris and many young victims were led to their final resting place because their lives were shortened in a cruel manner due to crime.
For how long the nation will be haunted by crime, whereby some are even leaving this country?
We stood bidding farewell to Senza Merviwa, in which still today there are no answers why?
And the sad reality is they died in the midst of the society, with arms that were supposed to comfort and to protect but sadly crime robbed us all of these precious souls.
Read our previous story, Inmate escapes into poetry.
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