Public awareness is vital for rehabilitation - Major General Vajira Wijeyagoonawardena

By Indeewara Thilakarathne

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“Ninety per cent of inmates are those who have been charged with minor offences and serving short term sentences less than two years and rehabilitation programmes were successfully conducted for inmates who had been serving long term sentences ranging from two to ten years terms of imprisonments.

In Galle prison, 88 per cent of inmates are drug addicts and they can be categorized as repeaters” said Major General Vajira Wijeyagoonawardena explaining the rehabilitation programmes launched by the prison.

Modern day prisons have been undergoing a dramatic transformation from being Centres of punishing and condemning convicts to Centres of reforming and rehabilitating convicts with aim of integrating them into the mainstream society as fully-fledged citizens.

‘Prisons in Sri Lanka are 400 per cent over crowded. However, out of this 50.8 per cent are remandees. The main reason for this unprecedented increase in intake is the lack of education. This is a fact which has been proved beyond doubt.

As some of the courses under the rehabilitation programmes would no longer provide employment, they have been changed over to more employment-oriented courses such as training in both software and hardware, ensuing that the inmate when released will be able to earn a decent living.

Over 5,270 inmates who have done their O/Ls, are being provided with training in Computer Hardware and Software which will improve employability as well as their power of concentration. This rehabilitation aspect has also been taken into consideration when designing courses for inmates.

Another ambitious project to be commenced is a degree programme in prisons for those inmates with A/L qualifications.

This has been identified as an important area in rehabilitation and social integration.

Although smuggling drugs into the prison has been a phenomenon, it cannot be easily stopped due to lack of state-of-art equipments.

Since there are no scanners and X-ray machines, each and every item, besides body checking, has to be manually checked. Parcels containing food items, tooth paste and wrapping papers, have to be dismantled and checked on item basis.

This meticulous process is being further complicated when relatives visit without prior appointments and the authorities have to call the particular inmate who is often engaged in diverse rounds and cannot be easily found.

Re-convicted prisoners

According to statistics, each year, fourteen per cent of prisoners who were released, have been re-convicted accounting for thirty per cent of the present prison population.

The principle reason attributed to this is that when the breadwinner is imprisoned, the family loses its sole income, often compelling the wife to take over the business. This is common among drug dealers and moonshine producers.

Commissioner General Wijeyagoonawardena has formulated a programme whereby the District Secretaries are being informed of families of the convicts in order to ensure that those families receive due social benefit.

This pathetic situation is that as a result of the social stigma, children of the convicts have to stop schooling and often wives either fly to the Middle East in search of employment or partners. Eventually they also become prisoners.

Therefore, we commenced this islandwide programme to look after families of the convicts, said Commissioner General Wijeyagoonawardena. This programme would ensure that family members of convicts are not harassed or suffer owing to the social stigma.

Bandanagaraya Gamata

Under the programme *Bandanagaraya Gamata*, prisoners, perhaps for the first time in history to address the villagers explaining the circumstance that led them to be in prison. In addition to changing the public perception on prisoners, this programme would act as a deterrent for would be prisoners.

With the assistance from the village priest and Grama Sevaka, the programme will be launched and children who are not attending schools and those who have addicted themselves to drugs will be called for an assembly which will be addressed by convicts. The prisoner will address the society and would explain the circumstance that prompted them to be prisoners.

The broader aim of the programme is to initiate children into practicing religion and to ensure that every child gets a decent education. Prisoners’ addressing the society would result in reducing the social stigma, thus helping speedy integration of them into the society.

Social stigma and perception

Commissioner General of Prisons, Wijeyagoonawardena urged the public to accept released inmates as fully fledged citizens and families of convicts should not be subject to harassment.Stigmatisation and branding the released prisoners and the general perception of them has to be changed as most of the prisoners are victims of circumstances. The present social attitude will lead to a serious social issue with many repercussions.

Currently the Government spends a sum of Rs. 100,000 billion on prisoners.

The number of intakes has been increased to 250 persons per day and 90 per cent of the inmates are those who have been convicted on minor offences for shorter terms, imprisonments (often 2 years) while only 10 per cent are charged for criminal offences. It is basically impossible for the prison to reform these persons within a period of two years.

He is of the view that the present Government regulation with regard to employing prisoner should be changed and the private sector should also absorb reformed convicts allowing them to enjoy the fruits of life while making a substantial contribution to the economy.

Since the opening up of several new prisons, currently prisons are short staffed in order to bring the prisoner-officer ratio to an officer per six inmates. Prisons need four thousands officers in all categories. It is the responsibility of the nation to improve the treatment meted out to all prisoners alike.

Major General Wijeyagoonawardena is of the view that opening up of more and more open prisons would reduce the present congestion in prisons. In addition to open prisons in Pallekelle and Weerawila, new open prisons will be constructed in Ambilipitiya, Mahawa and in Giribawa in Kalawewa.

The Commissioner General of Prisons has suggested the Government to give the prison Mental Hospital and Lespracy hospital in Handala for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. for it has becom a major issue.

It has been observed that rehabilitated prisoners and those who have participated in counselling and meditation programmes have showed remarkable progress in their behaviour and did not escape during the programmes conducted in Anuradhapura. During the programme inmates stayed together with other devotees in guest houses and participated in religious programmes conducted at Sri Maha Boodhiya.