Transforming lives

The objective of sending a criminal to the prison is to ensure that he comes regretting what he did plus change his mindset from that of crime to leading a hard but morally upright life, with a sense of purpose. Most of the jails across the world are never really able to bring about this transformation; instead majority of the inmates become hardened criminals post a jail visit.

Thus it is pretty heart warming to hear intermittent stories of some criminals getting reformed into much better human beings. One such jail is the Visakhapatnam Central Prison and Correctional Centre. Like most jails, it too offers rehabilitation programs wherein inmates are taught skills which can help them earn an honest living once they are out.

The central prison offers various skill development courses such as welding, plumbing, tailoring, furniture making and other programmes to improve prisoners’ skills. The jail has its own bakery, furniture making unit (factory); all leafy vegetables are grown by the inmates on the prison premises, for which they use home composting techniques. A few prisoners also work at the dairy farm, while some take care of gardening and nursery works. A new spice processing unit was recently inaugurated at a block in the prison. Superintendent of Visakhapatnam Central Jail, S. Rahul says that many convicts earn up to Rs.3,000 a month by working in various units.

Now isn’t this a very positive story for the first day of the week?