An ex-gangster now serving a 12-year sentence for a 2009 firearm offence said he wants to deter young Bermudians from glorifying crime.“The decision which led to my incarceration is part of the problem plaguing the Island today,” 25-year-old Anthony Swan told The Royal Gazette.Mr Swan was 21 years old when he was arrested for possessing a firearm and attempting to shoot Raymond Troy (Yankee) Rawlins on Court Street.Hailed by Commissioner of Corrections Edward Lamb as a model prisoner, Mr Swan is allowed to spend part of his day doing janitorial and maintenance work for the department.“Because I was part of the problem, I feel I have a moral obligation to become part of the solution,” he said.Mr Swan added that he didn’t expect to get any congratulations for discovering repentance behind bars.“For my first ten months of incarceration, I was 23 hours in my cell and one hour out,” he said. “That gave me a lot of time to myself, and when a man faces himself, he becomes himself.”During visits hosted by schoolchildren and the media to Westgate, Mr Swan said he’s tried to share the truth about his situation.“The children are glorifying it,” he recalled of a visit by a student group last summer, when one had called out his name.“He knows my name and the impact I had on life, and it could only have been negative,” Mr Swan said.“Hopefully I can still have some of that influence and can do better with it.”Asked for a possible solution to the Island’s gang problem, Mr Swan suggested: “What I believe may not be exactly what they’re looking for, but I think a knowledge of self is required. In school, I didn’t get a lot of Bermuda history.“I have been reading Quito Swan and I found out that Court Street was a centre for the black power movement in Bermuda.“That was where I used to hang out. I had no knowledge of that. Learning that was instrumental. It may not work for all, but it will still have an impact.“It can be argued and I heard Dr Eva Hodgson quote this in a Dale Butler book that when people are ignorant of their history they tend to repeat it. At the end of the day, the way I see it, history is repeating itself.”Mr Swan said he starts each day with a Bible reading before working a morning and afternoon shift at the facility.The work doesn’t garner an income but allows him to obtain a few personal items.He added: “I am also mastering barbering skills. I’ll need something when I get out.”Law remains a possibility, but studying for a degree from jail will require funds that he and his family don’t have.“I can use the barbering as a legitimate means to fund my schooling,” he said.Convicted in September 2010 for a raft of firearm offences in connection with the attempted shooting, Mr Swan accepts that he will not walk free for a long time.To those who consider jail a soft option, he said: “That would depend on the amount of time the individual is serving.“I can see how one serving a short time does not think too much of the sentence. For a substantial amount, you see it way different.”Along with the Bible and the writings of historian Dr Swan, Mr Swan reads Ben Ammi and Elijah Muhammad.“Philosophy gives me a better sense of self and why I should not do the things which got me here.”With long spells of isolation in jail, he said also devotes his quiet hours to exercise and a “bland” diet.Reflecting on the past, Mr Swan said: “I yearn to set myself apart. I look back on what I was caught up in and I ask myself how it could have happened.”He said the bottom line was: “What I chose to involve myself in was actually what got me incarcerated.”As for young people on the outside, Mr Swan said: “I would tell them to set better examples for themselves.“Find more realistic and more positive role models. I would like to share a quote from Susanne Taylor: ‘Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.’ I live by this quote. And the negative also applies.”