Vocational training for prisoners

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The welfare of around 24,000 prisons in Sri Lanka is an important factor when we consider the future of law and order in the country. Giving them better rehabilitation to become a good citizens in society should be considered an important factor as their reintegration to society at the end of their prison term plays a key role in creating a peaceful environment.

As Prisoner's Welfare Day is scheduled to be celebrated on September 12, the Sunday Observer interviewed the Prisons Commissioner General to get a better understanding of the measures they have taken to improve the welfare of the prison community and their rehabilitation programs.

Following is the interview the Sunday Observer had with Commissioner General of Prisons P.W. Kodippili.

Q: What is the total prison population in Sri Lanka at present and do you think that we have enough space to accommodate them?

A: At present we have a total 24,000 inmates in all our prisons. Of that number 50 per cent are remand prisoners. The balance are convicted prisoners. Since the number of remand prisoners is very high we feel that the prison population is very high in Sri Lanka.

If we take the entire prison system we have the capacity to accommodate only 11,000 to 12,000 prisoners. We have to accommodate more than double the number in our prisons at present. Under these circumstances we have to face many difficulties. We are fulfilling the basic requirements of these prisoners at present, but when we move forward to have some kind of rehabilitation process and introduce welfare measures we face difficulties.

Q: Do we have enough staff to take care of these prisoners and to guide them to become good citizens at the end of their prison term?

A: If we take the situation of the prisons in developed countries they deploy one officer for every two or three inmates. But in Sri Lanka we have only one prison officer for every six inmates. In developed countries such as the Netherlands they have one officer for two inmates and in Australia too they are have the same number.

But in Sri Lanka we don't have that number of officers to look after the prison inmates. As a solution to this, we are trying to increase the cadre of the Prisons Department. At present we have a staff of 5,300 in the Prisons Department. There are some vacancies to be filled. The cadre strength is 6,000 and we are taking steps to fill the existing vacancies by recruiting prison officers.

We will be recruiting 290 jailors on September 10 and are taking steps to give overseer promotions to 390 jailors after calling applications. Once we give those promotions there will be vacancies for another 390 jailors and we will take steps to recruit more jailors after a competitive examination.

Apart from that we are trying to increase the cadre of the Prisons Department from 6,000 to 8,000 or 9,000. We are still in the process of discussing the number we require for the entire prison system in the country and to increase the welfare measures of the prison inmates. Our intention is to provide better rehabilitation for the people who are sent to jail by the Courts.

Our responsibility is to make them good citizens during the period they spend in prison through various rehabilitation programs. To achieve this we are implementing various programs throughout the year to provide advise to these prisoners and to uplift their mental attitude. It is our responsibility to improve their mental condition by educating them on good attitudes. For that we have to implement religious, cultural, vocational training, sports and educational programs. We are conducting those programs according to a plan in all these prisons to turn them into good citizens when they are released.

Q: The Prisoner Welfare Day falls on September 12. How are you going to celebrate it this year?

A: Last year we celebrated that day by exhibiting the talents of the prison inmates. This year we thought of celebrating the day by allowing them to exhibit their talents. To do that the Prisons Department is working along with the Youth Affairs and Vocational Training, Education Ministry and the Traditional Industries Ministry, National Crafts Council under the Cultural Affairs Ministry and Industrial Development Board to bring their training programmes to the prisons.

We have signed MoUs with them to provide training inside the prisons enabling the inmates to have better vocational training.

What we expect from that program is to provide a better training for the inmates enabling them to engage in self employment or to find a job after their release. For this they need to have recognition for their talents.

To get that recognition we are working with these institutions to provide the inmates National Vocational Qualification certificate after the completion of their vocational training programs. This year we are going to celebrate Prisoners Welfare Day by providing those who have successfully completed the training, with NVQ certificates. We plan to have this celebration on September 30 although the Prisoners Welfare Day falls on September 12. We will have this ceremony at Campbell Park.

On that day we plann to hand over certificates after conducting tests to check their abilities. Apart from that we plann to have a three-day industrial exhibition at the Campbell Park to display the products of the inmates and to sell them.

Q: Though the Prison Authorities are taking steps to provide them better rehabilitation and vocational training programs, there is a stigma attached to people released from prisons. Do you have any program to ensure that they get a better livelihood after their release?

A: We are used to looking at prisoners in a traditional way. Everyone thinks that they are bad people and they cannot be changed even after rehabilitation. But our objective is to make them better people through our rehabilitation programs. Through these programs we have changed their attitudes and their mentality.

By saying so I don't mean that we are in a position to completely change their attitudes and their mentality. In any society we can't see any such progress. But the majority of them change their attitudes and mentality during the rehabilitation process.

Therefore, we expect to collaborate with private sector companies during the vocational training programs and provide jobs for these inmates after their release. There is big demand for such people. Some shoe factories have vacancies for talented workers and they are willing to recruit them. There are some vocations which have higher demand overseas. Plumbers, electricians, computer operators are such jobs. However, the behaviour of the person after their release is a basic factor to obtain these jobs. However we have conducted discussions with some companies and we have found that there is no such problem with them.

Q: Do you have any program to supervise their activities after their reintegration into society?

A: In the future we plan to supervise them once they are back in society. At present that is not a responsibility of the Prison Department. But we hope to have that responsibility under our department in the future. We are trying to implement that program at Divisional Secretariat level. We may not be able to do that immediately. But we hope we will be able to convince society that they are not a section to be rejected by society.

The same problem is there with the former combatants who had been reintegrated into society after their rehabilitation. They are also facing difficulties once they are back in their villages. But the government is also conducting many programs to overcome these issues. We also plan to conduct such programs for the benefit of the prisoners who are released.

Q: Among the prison community there are people with different educational levels. Is there any programme for them to pursue their education from that level onwards?

A: To do that we are in the process of implementing a program under the guidance of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadheera to start a Prison School in collaboration with the Education Ministry. We laid the foundation stone to construct the building in March this year in Watareka. The objective of this program is to provide formal education to the prisons according to their age.

Earlier the practice was to provide informal education for the inmates after conducting to improve their literacy. But under this new program we have taken steps to provide formal education for inmates along with the Education Ministry enabling them to continue their education from the level of education they had when they are in the normal society.

When we take the entire prison community, 8 percent are have never been to school, around 18 to 20 percent of the inmates have studied up to grade five and 20 percent upto Ordinary Level. Therefore, we have planned to provide them school education from grade one to Advanced Level.

If they qualify in the Advanced Level examination they will be given the chance to have university education after having discussion with the Education Ministry. We hope that we will be able to implement that program by next year after the admitting the inmates to the school we construct in Watareka. We can see such programs in many parts of the world. We think we will be able to implement it here in Sri Lanka very soon.

Q: Another criticism about prison system in Sri Lanka is that even the people imprisoned for minor offences come out of prison as major criminals as they associates with people who have committed major offences such as murders. What is the program you have to minimise such situations?

A: The perception in society is that the minor offenders also become murderers or criminal after their imprisonment. But I don't think there is a tendency for such a situation because many of the prisoners who had committed murders repent about their acts once they are sent to prison.

After their rehabilitation they determined not to repeat such activity in their life. But things are different with the people who are addicted to drugs and or those who had committed robberies as they tend to make contacts while in prison. Therefore, if a minor offender joined them there is a tendency for him to end up as a drug addict or a member of a criminal gang.

We are taking steps to minimise this situation. The reason for this situation is the congestion in the prisons. This situation arises when all the prisoners are put together. As a solution we have allocated some prisons only for the drug addicts. We have allocated places for drug addicts in Weerawila, Thaldena and Kalutara. We can't do all this at once. We will implement this step by step after reducing the congestion in the prisons.

Q: What is your program for reducing congestion in prisons?

A: To reduce the congestion in prison we have taken steps to shift the prisons from the main cities. At present we are working on a five-year program to shift these prisons. We plan to shift the prisons in Welikada, Galle, Matara, Tangalle and Bogamabara to locations with more space. Through that program we plan to separate the prisoners we think should not be mingle with the normal prisoners.

Q: There is criticism that prisons have become places for many underworld activities. Do you agree with this? If so what are the action you have taken to minimise this?

A: I agree that there is such tendency in prisons. Such incidents have been reported from prisons and we don't deny it. But we have taken steps to minimise such situations in prisons. We are taking strict measures to prevent such incidents.

The reason for this situation is the availability of mobile phones with inmates. This has made easy for the inmates to engage in such activities as they can have contacts with the outsiders. This happens mainly with the people who have contacts with drug dealers and they engage in illegal activities using mobile phones. To prevent such illegal things coming inside prisons we have installed metal detectors. That program is being implemented successfully. At the same time we have also taken steps to punish the inmates if we found mobile phones or any other prohibited item with them inside the prison.

We have detected such devices during the recent past during raids and interdicted the high ranking officers responsible for such situations. Our Prisons Intelligence Unit is conducting continuous raids and detecting those mobile phones from the inmates once they get information.

Q: What are the minimum facilities that should be made available to the prisoners according to international standards and are you in a position to maintain such standards in our prisons?

A: We are not in a position to provide the facilities to international standards. Many of these international standards are on par with the facilities made available to the prisoners in developed countries. I am not saying that we are not that developed. But we have economic constraints compared to the developed world.

We may not be able to provide all the facilities up to their standards but we are providing all the facilities they require. There is criticism when we provide more facilities to the prisoners. There may be tendency the prison population to increase if we do so. But what we require is to get the facilities for the prisoners enabling them to a rise from their present situation and to get them back to society as good citizens. To achieve that we are conducting programs according to the funds made available to us.

Q: Are you satisfied with the programs which are now being implemented in the prison system in the country?

A: To certain extent I am satisfied with the programs that are being implemented. But that is not the end. We have to go beyond that.

Q: What is the goal you propose to reach through these programs?

A: What we should aim at, is to have a program that is capable of stopping re-imprisonment of the inmates who are reintegrated into society after their release. We may not be able to achieve that target hundred percent. But if we can achieve that successfully that is the goal we should try to achieve. On such a that day we will be happy that our rehabilitation programs were successful.