If ever the Bermudian prison service wanted a model inmate to promote correctional facilities as places of rehabilitation, then Sheldon Franks is he.

Despite being locked up for a murder in 1996, Franks is an award winning artist, captain of the Westgate football team, optimistic, positive and using his time behind bars in the best possible manner.

"My time here has brought my life under the microscope," said Franks, speaking to The Royal Gazette from inside Westgate, where he is serving a life sentence for the murder of Cyrus Caines seven years ago.

"I'm thankful for my days because they brought out the best in me.

"The humiliation of it all, being put in here for something I maintain I did not do, it brought me a lot of distress and yanked me away from my family, from my son (13-year-old Chioke Hewey).

"It was a case of, what am I going to do with life from here?

"Am I going to let frustration get the better of me?

"Am I going to do something productive with my time? What is there for me to achieve?

"Through it all I have had to make wise decisions about which direction to send my life."

After four years in maximum security, he was given the chance to participate in art classes and clearly one of his wise decisions was to make the most of the enormous free time incarceration offers in pursuing his passion.

"I have always admired art work but I have never had a chance to execute art work before," said the 38-year-old prisoner, whose watercolour 'Have Mercy' recently won second place in the watercolours category at Prison Fellowship International Convocation in Toronto.

"Upon coming to Westgate and enrolling in Lester Harnett's art class I discovered I have got the hands, the talent.

"The thing about prison life is that in prison we can take a talent and focus on it without being distracted.

"We don't have to worry about things like going to the grocery store, we can focus on whatever our goal is.

"I don't see having a life sentence as my life being over. It is a challenge, a springboard for greatness."

And the brilliant watercolours scattered on the desk in front of him in the interview room are testament to the enormous talent that Franks clearly has, something he wants to thank his 'heaven-sent' teacher for.

The art classes run by Mr. Harnett are just one of a number of schemes run by the Island's correctional facilities as part of the mission statement to "offer a comprehensive training and development programme to meet the individual needs of those in our custody".

As well as a range of sports, ceramics, art and hobby work are included in the rehabilitation schemes at Westgate, which inmates take seriously.

"We try to get the prisoners in the frame of mind to do something worthwhile," said Acting Chief Officer Shannon Hollis.

"These classes relieve stress and because they are occupied it stops them getting into mischief. They take the classes pretty seriously."

Although few have taken the principles of these classes as seriously as Franks.

As well as his art, he is also a sportsman of some repute.

A former North Village player - he played "scrimmage" football with Shaun Goater as a youngster - Franks now captains the soccer football team and hopes to lift a trophy next week when the side take on Telford Electric in the deciding game of their annual five-match series.

It is moments such as this, and also Franks' involvement with art, that he believes gives hope and meaning to the prisoners.

"The inmates around me strive to do something productive in harsh circumstances," he continues, in his disarmingly optimistic way.

"You have to keep smiling and move forward. They feel that winning the art prize represented all of the prisoners.

"It has come out of the blue for me - I feel honoured to know that I can still produce at this time.

"Some people have no food to eat, nowhere to stay and some people are lame, disabled. Things are not that bad, they could be so much worse.

"I have my health, a place to stay. You have to look at your life and say the glass is half full.

"I just don't know how to crumble."

Franks is hoping to have some of his artwork displayed, but his main aim is to teach art - to children if possible.

"I think of myself as a trustworthy person, my main desire is to teach," he said.

"I don't know what is going to be possible."

So optimistic and positive is Franks that he even sees prison as an opportunity for his art.

"The barbed wire, the cells, these things can make the subject for art that few have an opportunity to work with," he added.

"It can make your work unique. Prison life has provided the inspiration for much of my work.

"But if I ever do get out, the first thing I am going to is paint a bird flying across the sky."

lPart two of this interview will appear in tomorrow's Royal Gazette.