Rehabilitation of prisoners and their children

Transcription

1 Rehabilitation of prisoners and their children By Sebastian Thekkanath Introduction No one is born as a criminal in the world. It is the social circumstances which make one criminal. Even if one is branded as a criminal, no one wants to remain as criminal in their whole life time. But without the intervention of some external agencies, no one can come to the main stream of life, from the cluches of crimes. Thus in the process of rehabilitation of the prisoners the role of the government, non-governmental organizations and society at large have a vital role. Rehabilitation activities by Government and prison department in India India is a country with the one of the smallest prison populationi.e. 30 per 1, 00,000. Whereas for one lakh population of the US

2 has the highest number of prisoners (716), China 121, Cuba 510, Russia 475, Pakistan 39 and Bangladesh 42. In India the prisons are under State Government and the present department in the recent years have refined it concept of captivity. It has taken many positive steps in the rehabilitation of the prisoners. Tihar, the Central prison with 12,000 inmates pioneered this rehabilitation programs that is replicated in several other states of India. The baking, carpentry weaving and tailoring schools make the jail an organized factory. They earn more than 30 cores a year. The Prisons in Maharashtra state earn 35 cores and Andra Pradhesh prisons are picking up with 5 cores. In Kerala the jail chapatti gained popularity in the market as brand providing quality at an affordable price. A prisoner in Kerala earns more than 3,000 per month and the administration is thinking about investing the profit in more advanced manufacturing activities. Hotel owners book the trained cooks in

3 jail at the time of their release. Rubber planters get good tappers too from the prison. Soon campus recruitment may take care of the prisoners after their tenure in the prison. The rehabilitation works carrying out by Non-Governmental organizations. Prison Fellowship India, India Vision Foundation, Prayas, Prison Ministry India and many other local NGOs play an important role in the rehabilitation of the prisoners and their children. The staff and volunteers of these organizations visit the inmates regularly and encourage them to change their life. Once they released from the prison through counseling and various methods. These organizations also run rehabilitation centers for released prisoners (men, women and juveniles). Prison Ministry India (PMI) the Catholic prison apostolate may be the biggest organizations working all over India having units of volunteers connected with every prison locally and run such rehabilitation centers.

4 Three R theory of rehabilitation Release, Renewal and Rehabilitation are the key concepts of these theory developed by Fr. Varghese Karippery, one of the founder members of PMI. To rehabilitate a prisoner, he should be released first from the prison and also from all the cluches of his criminal bondages and for this integral renewal is necessary. This is done in the rehabilitation centers (half way homes) of Prison Ministry India. A prisoner should be released from the following and should be led to a new world From the world of killing to the world of life From the world of pain to the world of happiness From the world of lock to the world of no locks Form the world of walls to the world of no walls From the world of stealing to the world of sharing From the world of despair to the to the world of hope

5 From the world of revenge to the world of forgiveness From the world of authority to the world of service From the world of hatred to the world of love From the world of worry to the world of providence This mental resetting of a prisoner is possible only through a long process of renewal. This is excellently done in the half way homes run by Prison Ministry India and we have rehabilitated many hundreds of prisoners both male and female during the last two decades. We also run centers to take care of the children of the prisoners and juvenile delinquents. At present I, myself run a children s village in the capital Region of India where we have socially disabled children (of the prisoners) are taken care of and integrated to the main stream of the society. In these processes of rehabilitation of prisoners the prisoner himself, the Government, the external agency (NGO) and the

6 society at large have got an important role. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Let us join our hands to give a bright future to these least, last, lost brethren of our society. Thanks