July 14, 2015. 10:40

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact

Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, another famous "training centre" for young offenders
Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, another famous “training centre” for young offenders

 

Not long ago, Jai Waterman local made some “pretty stupid decisions”.

A wild night of reckless drink driving landed the Maroubra local in handcuffs, after crashing his mum’s Tarago into the shopfront of a local post office.

He was sentenced to three-months in the infamous Silverwater Correction Centre, and as the 19-year-old explains, prison his gave him a lot to think about.

“I look back and realise… I really found myself in prison, I learnt a lot of things,”

“Before I got sent there, I was just so stupid. Drink-driving, what the hell was I thinking?”

Unfortunately, as Jai points out, his ‘rehabilitation’ did not involve him learning the importance of abiding the law – even though the 76-year-old judge that sent him there was certain it would.

“It was more about meeting some people who had gone down the same path… I grew up without a father and prison was really the first place I found male role models,”

“My mates and I were always trying to make something of ourselves, but there is an art to this stuff… I needed a mentor, and I found plenty of them in the pen.”

Jai Waterman says gone are the days where he would waste his time getting in trouble for petty crime
Jai Waterman says gone are the days where he would waste his time getting in trouble for petty crime. PHOTO: VICE Magazine

 

Jai says while his stay in the heritage Sydney prison was relatively short compared to most, he met a large number of older male mentors from a diverse mix of ethnic backgrounds… Who were each able to teach him something.

“The Asian inmates taught me a lot about patience, the Middle-Easterners taught me a lot about family and loyalty… But I owe everything to the Aussie guys in there, an up-skill in crystal meth manufacturing was exactly what I needed”

Mr Waterman is now living a lifestyle quite different to the one he embraced prior to going to prison.

Jai now spends his time between his penthouse in North Maroubra and an anonymous three-bedroom fibro house in Liverpool. The young entrepreneur says he couldn’t be happier with how things turned out.

Jai now spends his days drinking organic tea and overseeing his business empire
Jai now spends his days drinking organic tea and overseeing his business empire. PHOTO: Magazine

“It was either go to jail for three-months and avoid talking to anyone, come out and fail miserably at finding a job… or go in there, get to know the place and learn more about the world they work in.

“It’s just networking at the end of the day”

Jai, now worth an estimated $900,000 – says he sometimes misses the wild old life, but he also realises it was time to grow up.

“I was off-the-rails, I needed some guidance. And although most people might not realise it, prison is the best place to find those kind of life skills”

 

3 COMMENTS

  1. BTW love The Advocate … I’m a lefty and a former lawyer living in the bush … a mate alerted me to your website the other day so been catching up reading your stuff … sensationally funny!

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