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| Sunday, 16 November 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Business leaders come to the rescue of prisoners Response to Sunday Observer stories by LAKMAL WELABADA In a mission to wrest better human beings from ending up as victims of society or of fate, the Sri Lanka Prisons Department has been carrying on rapid welfare work for prisoners throughout the past five months. Recently, the Sunday Observer carried two articles on prisons focusing on the freeing of prisoners and the other overall welfare projects launched for the betterment of prisoners, under the present Commissioner General of Prisons, Rumy Marzook: 'Free a prisoner and gain merit' on September 7 (an interview with the Commissioner General of Prisons by Jayanthi Liyanage) and 'A tranquil mind is void of crime' on August 17 (a profile of Florine Marzook, wife of the Commissioner General of Prisons by the writer). "Both articles have been really helpful and backed our work immensely," says Marzook. A great number of well-wishers have been coming forward to join hands with the work of the Prisons Department. The main attraction was, the project launched in 'freeing prisoners' who are convicted for minor offences with a nominal fine. These people who could not pay their fines have to languish in prison for years, devastating their lives and their families including children. Most victims are those who are in the abyss of poverty. "Among the individuals who have come forward, Deshamanya Dr. Lalith Kothalawala, Chairman of Ceylinco Groups, Kumar Devapura, Chairman and Managing Director of Tri-Star Apparel and Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Economic, Reform, Science and Technology are on the top of the list," says Mr. Marzook. Within the past five months, about two to three hundred people who were imprisoned for their inability to pay the fine imposed on them were released under this project. "The selections of prisoners is done under a strict supervision in order to avoid internal corruption," says Mr. Marzook. "Earlier we asked the jailers to give the list of the prisoners who were genuine cases. But, later we found that to get their names into the list each prisoner had to pay Rs. 500 to the jailer! And those who couldn't fulfil the demand were excluded. When I heard this, I got very angry, and decided to attend to each and every case personally," he said. So, like a doctor doing ward rounds, the Commissioner General of Prisons visits each prison cell looking for people to release. The male prisoners are waiting with their fingers crossed each and every time the "God Father" steps into their cells, while the female prisoners queue up with their heart breaking stories when Mrs. Florine Marzook visits the Women's wards." Apart from the freeing process, giving a training for employment for the prisoners, as most of them are the bread winners of their family, is the next project to be launched by the Prisons Department. As the first major step, a fully equipped garment factory with 48 sewing machines (a donation from the Tri Star Apparel), was opened at the male ward of the Welikada Prison last month. And two other sewing training centres will be opened shortly with 10 machines at the female ward at Welikada prison, and with 15 machines at the male ward in Galle. "All the sewing needs of the prison including the uniforms of the jailers, jumper-uniforms of the prisoners and the other linen requirements will be fulfilled by this 'prison garment factory' hereafter. And the trainees will be getting a certificate issued by Tri Star Apparel so that they can work in any garment factory outside once they are released. If they are not be able to find a job, Kumar Devapura assured in that he would somehow find a solution to that too. And that is a great thing," claims the Commissioner General. The Prisons Department hopes to undertake sewing orders as a fund raising project for the welfare of the prisoners. In addition, orders for care taking purposes are also being undertaken by the Prison. Cleaning and polishing the floor of the Samurdhi Ministry is one such tasks done by them at present. "Six to seven prisoners who attend to this work get a fair amount of payment which goes to their savings accounts for them to use when they are released. And the rest goes to the Prison Fund," said Mr. Marzook. Several self-employment training programmes for the female prisoners are also included in the project. English, Sinhala, cookery, sewing, hairdressing, Bharatha Natya and poetry writing are some of the training classes held at the female wards, for both males and females in the remand prisons. "Opening a service station is the next project in line. This will be affiliated to the motor mechanical department of the Prison. While the male prisoners are getting a practical training which will be very useful for them once they are freed, the general public will get the opportunity of getting their vehicles serviced for a nominal fee," explained Mr. Marzook. A meditation centre is also being built at the Welikada prison. "Meditation has been in the daily programme of the prisoners. But once the construction of the centre is over we hope to begin it in a proper way. Most probably we will be able to open it at the end of this year. And we hope to expand the programme to all 30 prisons islandwide. I pay special attention to this as meditation is the best healer for mental irritations and pain. My effort is to send a peaceful, sober, kind hearted human being to society and not to release the same criminal who came to the prison with his/her "sin" and guilt. The period of time he/she spends under the roof of the prison should be a crucial period of 'change'. Although I could not give a hundred percent guarantee of that, my staff and I try our best to pull the hidden 'saint' out from the sealed soul of the 'criminal'," promised the Commissioner General. Apart from everything the Commissioner General of Prisons hopes to organise a celebration for the prisoners this Christmas for them to enjoy the season with their relatives. "A mid night mass will be held in every prison all over the island," he said with a smile. |
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