The prison authorities have decided to set up a rehabilitation centre in the city to train prisoners in different vocational skills and motivate them to return to normal life after they serve out their prison sentence.
‘We have decided to set up the centre with two goals in mind. One is to reduce the pressure of inmates on the overcrowded jails and the other to decrease criminal activities,’ inspector general of prisons brigadier general Ashraful Islam Khan told New Age.
He said the centre would be established under the ‘correction and rehabilitation project’ being implemented by the prisons department in cooperation with some non-governmental organisations.
The prisons department has already held meetings with three NGOs – BRAC, Padakkhep and GTZ – about the proposed centre and the response of the NGOs was positive, Ashraful said.
‘It’s very unfortunate that most of the prisoners, after their release from jail, get engaged in criminal activities again and return to jail. The rehabilitation centre will provide them with vocational skills and motivation to ensure that they lead a normal life after serving out their sentence,’ he added.
The number of prisoners has become three times the capacity of the prisons, the IGP said, adding that thousands of people would get training, particularly in skills demanded by the apparel sector, at the centre.
The jail authorities have taken an initiative to set up training centres at 40 of the country’s 67 jails to train prisoners in garment manufacturing, he added.
He said they trained around 30 prisoners successfully in sweater manufacturing on a trial basis at the Pabna central jail.
‘On completion of the training course, we provided the trainees with certificates and all of them have secured jobs at different readymade garment factories after their release,’ Ashraful told New Age.
Prisoners have also been receiving training in assembling electronic goods and beautification at 38 jails, including 12 central jails, under the correction and rehabilitation project launched three and a half years ago.
The jail authorities so far have trained around 3,000 prisoners, including 150 women. Of them, 1,000 have been released and are now working at different firms.
The first training centre was set up at the Dhaka Central Jail where prisoners were trained in garment manufacturing. The centre can train 300 people a year.
Ashraful expressed the hope that the training centres would help mainstream hundreds of prison inmates.
