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7news was there to hear his message:

Jules Vasquez Reporting

This morning, a select, low-risk 350 of the 1,400 inmates at the Kolbe Central Prison filled up the prison auditorium to hear Minister Louis Farrakhan.

You might say he had a captive audience but they seemed genuinely locked in to his message, and indeed, even at 79, Farrakhan is magnetic, charismatic and powerful.

Flanked by his two sons, he spoke about spirituality, personal accountability and the role of women. For this audience, the theme of accountability resonated most deeply:

Minister Louis Farrakhan - Leader of the Nation of Islam
"It isn't somebody else that got you here, it's you. If you can blame the society - they don't treat us right, their unjust, their all of that, but you are not that in your nature. You chose to be that when you rejected the guidance of God coming from within ourselves. I don't want you to think that I fell down out of heaven; I came up out of the same hell that you were in. I grew up in the ghetto I understand ghetto life, I understand gang life, I understand sin masquerading as righteousness, I sang in the choir, I carried the cross but that didn't stop me from hitting on the girls, I taught that was a part of my Religion too."

Farrakhan even inveighed against marijuana use:

Minister Louis Farrrakhan
"I'm not perfect, I use to smoke reefer. Anyone here used to do that? Oh you're still doing it, I see. Do you want to give up control of yourself to some substance outside of yourself that addicts you to it, were it becomes a god over your life? Talk to me! Then, if God gives you this to control this, and you give up your head to drugs, then you are no longer in control."

Farrakhan also briefly touched on race politics:

Minister Louis Farrakhan
"There are those who want to keep you in the condition that you are in because as long as you remain in this condition, white supremacy as a philosophy will continue to rule Belize, and rule the world."

That seemed to have gotten the biggest applause of the day. Questions were permitted and some inmates like Frank Castro who is serving life for murder and has been in jail for most of his life - said he just wanted to shake Minister Farrakhan's hand while Viola Pook sentenced to life for killing her husband in 2011 wanted to be consoled.

Others wanted legal advice like Russell Hyde, whose been remanded without a bail hearing:

Louis Farrakhan
"So when is your bail?"

Russel Hyde
"I didn't get any bail, I'm kidnapped?"

Louis Farrakhan
"Or you haven't been given a bail?"

Russel Hyde
"I am legally kidnapped."

Farrakhan couldn't offer much help with that, but seemed very grateful for a prison-made sculpture

Louis Farrakhan
"It also represents your life carved out of a rough existence in just plain wood and you were left to use sandpaper to take the roughness off of this and make it so smooth that I can run it cross my face."

He charmed his audience and the Prison CEO says he believes it had a good effect:

Earl Jones - CEO, Kolbe Prison
"What we hope to see from this is that inmates go back, sit down, reflect on their lives, and try to understand the purpose in life."

Jules Vasquez
"Do you expect this to have any medium or long term effects in some of these persons perhaps becoming more productive, less hostile or more accepting of what society has dole out to them?"

Earl Jones
"I think the whole message of the minister this morning would have a positive impact. I wish to see some better sort of reaction from the inmates in terms of their behavior."

Interestingly, of the 5 prisoners who asked questions two were serving life sentences, and another, a 41 year old was serving a 75 year sentence. Tomorrow morning, Farrakhan will have a press conference before his Bird's Isle address.