The Ministry of Culture organised a mediation and self-realisation programme recently in 75 chosen prisons of the country. While the initiative is laudable, it is livelihood and economic rehabilitation of inmates that should become the main focus of prison reforms. This will not just ensure a better future for the young inmates but also contribute to the overall welfare of society.

Most states do not have well-calibrated, organised and fully state-funded skill development and livelihood programmes in its prisons. But most of these programmes are carried out by a well-meaning and motivated prison leadership with the help of civil society and minuscule funding from the state. The redeeming feature, however, is that many states have notified that all government departments will purchase certain products from the jails only.

An initiative that the Union home ministry can stitch in partnership with the Ministry of Textiles is to create a handloom cluster in one of the prisons in every state. Weaving is part of the trades practised in most state prisons. Some private social groups are promoting handlooms in prisons. Handloom weaving, otherwise, is a dying art replaced by power looms. There is a need for the revival of this craft and the ministry of textiles can embrace prisons to achieve that goal.

There is great demand for quality handloom products. This writer upgraded the handloom workshops in prisons of Himachal Pradesh under Har Haath ko Kaam project in 2017. More handlooms were either purchased or fabricated in the prison carpentry workshops. Better training, designs, raw material, and post-processing were ensured to produce premium handloom products such as shawls, stoles, tweeds, blankets, etc. Textile Ministry was also approached to authorise the handloom products made in Himachal prisons to carry the handloom logo.

As per the NCRB report, a total of 39,313 prisoners were provided with various vocational training during the year 2021 which is not even ten per cent of the prison population. The bulk of the training was in handlooms and weaving, carpentry and agriculture. The trades associated with the digital economy continue to be a far cry for the inmates.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah made a profound statement while inaugurating the sports meet for prison officials in Kankaria, Ahmedabad, The jail administration cannot be ignored and we need to change the approach the prisons are seen in this society. All the convicts serving jail terms are not born criminals but circumstances force them to get involved in criminal activitiesIt is the responsibility of the jail administration for the re-induction of those who are not natural, born, habitual criminals into society.

He laid emphasis on providing libraries for prisoners, rehabilitating them by providing training and education, and establishing good hospitals and mental development activities.

Prisons do not have adequate skilled trainers and educators. The Ministry of Skill Development and Enterprise needs to step in to create prisons and prisoners-specific programmes which will equip even illiterate inmates in fending for themselves when released from jail. The ministry is believed to have developed over five thousand skill programmes for a vast clientele. Including prisons in their ambit will be a game changer for the inmates.

It is hoped after the union home ministers statement, his ministry will assume a greater role in coordinating with other ministries for developing programmes for skilling the prisoners. Most such programmes in closed environments like prisons suffer from a top-down approach resulting in partial success and satisfaction. A participatory approach alive to inclination of trainees, skill requirement of industry and trade, available infrastructure and qualified trainers can deliver winsome formula in this space.

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Wages paid to the prisoners vary from state to state. The average per diem wage for a skilled worker is Rs111, Rs 95 for semi-skilled and Rs 88 for an unskilled worker in the prisons as per the latest 2021 report of NCRB. The minimum wage for unskilled work paid by Himachal Pradesh is Rs 300. There is definitely scope for upward revision of wages for variously skilled inmates.

Mere training and manufacturing will not help. The products made in prisons are generally in great demand. The NCRB data pegs the value of prison products at Rs 238 crore in the calendar year 2021. Wider market access will have to be provided at the central and state levels for people to sample and buy jail products. Iconic places like Dilli Haat must provide representation to prison products from states by rotation.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) can build a portal and a mobile app for sale of jail products from all the states so that they reach a large population of the country. Private retailers have no interest in promoting prison products on their platforms due to less margin offered by the prisons.

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According to a study conducted in prisons, 46 per cent of inmates are the sole breadwinners for their families. The message from these inmates, who show signs of frustration, anxiety, helplessness, depression and anger at not being able to support their families, is loud and clear. It is Bhooke bhajan na hoye Gopala! Only meditation and chanting bhajans will not satiate the hunger of their nears and dears.

Let us look at the prison demographics for 2021, released recently by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Eighty-seven per cent of all prisoners are in the productive age group of 18-50 years. This is the age when their families need them the most. Imprisonment makes their families secondary victims of crime suffering social stigma, abuse, ostracisation, financial hardship and above all depriving them of the presence and support of the head of the family.

The other data suggests that literacy and crime also bear a direct link. Twenty-five per cent of prisoners are illiterate, while another 40 per cent are below matriculation. Add to this another 24 per cent that is below graduation. A whopping eighty-nine per cent of inmates have below graduation educational qualifications.

Prisons are often blamed for being seminaries of crime. The above demographics should suggest that thousands of youths are readily available for recruitment in crime syndicates, drug and liquor cartels, mercenary gangs and other anti-social and anti-national groups if not weaned away from the life of crime by skilling them appropriately to lead an honourable life in society.

Nelson Mandela famously said, It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.

The focus of policymakers should be on those 46 per cent of inmates whose families eat only when they earn.

Somesh Goyal is a former Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh. He is an alumnus of National Defence College. He is knownfor his project Har Haath Ko Kaam which aims at providing livelihood opportunities to inmates inside and outside the prisons for their better integration with society. Somesh Goyal writes frequently on prison, police, and internalsecurity issues.

(Edited by Ratan Priya)

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Prison reforms need to go beyond music and meditation. Try handloom - ThePrint