FORMER gang leader Drexel Deal donated more than 300 copies of his new book, “The fight of my life is wrapped up in my father”, to Her Majesty’s Prison yesterday.

As a former prisoner himself, Mr Deal said that when he served his time behind bars, he “became a monster” until he was shot four times attempting to rob an armoured vehicle 18 years ago. As a result of that shooting, he is blind today.

During his incaceration at Her Majesty’s Prison, Mr Deal learned how to read. It was in prison that he fell in love with reading books.

“Even though the books I was reading helped sharpen my skills in crime, because they were mostly crime novels. Realising the enormous amount of free time inmates have, I see it fitting to donate these books that captures the negative outcome that often results from a life of crime, and it’s one in which the inmates can relate to,” he said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Hulan Hanna said that Mr Deal’s story is a fascinating and a wonderful one that resonates with many young people.

Speaking of Mr Deal’s book, Jamain Carey, owner of Careyscape Depot said, “I’m sure this book will make brothers in the pen who can’t read, want to learn to read just to read this book. This book is truly a collectable that a collector must collect.”

Mr Deal said that he was saddened, however, that as he makes this donation now, one of the individuals he interviewed extensively during his research is now serving a nine-year prison sentence for attempted murder.

“The individual in question is the former leader of the Rebellion Raiders, who goes by the street name ‘Scrooge’ whom I dubbed the godfather of street gangs in the Bahamas. Simply because he took 13 seemingly unpretentious young men and grew them into thousands, and one of the largest street gangs ever in the history of the Bahamas,” he said.

The gift of these 320 books has been made possible by Mr Frank Crothers of Lyford Cay, who has been assisting Mr Deal with such initiatives for more than 10 years, and his younger sister, Vanessa Deal, who is a middle manager at Atlantis, Paradise Island.