I was lucky to have had the opportunity to observe the drug rehabilitation programmes run in some of the prisons in a few South Asian countries. One of the prisons I was particularly interested was the present Changi prison, Singapore.
Though once it was notorious for various atrocities and violation of human rights of its prisoners, I was impressed by the secure and exemplary prison system which is now established in this prison (at least when I saw it way back in 2002) . To day it is a prison which has the capacity to accommodate thousands of prisoners and also focus on providing rehabilitation to its inmates.
My main interest was particularly on the Rehabilitation programme.
I saw that hard core seasoned criminals were segregated from first time offenders and their daily schedules were well organised from morning to night. The prison had a rigorous and comprehensive rehabilitation programme, with physical recreation being a priority.
The manner in which the vocational skills unit ran was what most fascinated me.
The prisoners cook their own food, run a laundry service for hospitals, and it also had units where prisoners were engaged in other skills such as, tailoring, handicrafts, screen printing, book binding, copper tooling , carpentry and bread making as part of their daily work routines.
As I watched the convicts attending to these tasks with diligence, perseverance and effort, I hoped that one day our own convicts would be offered this opportunity. ....if and when we are able to provide...a comprehensive prison rehabilitation programme for the prisoners.
Ofcourse we can assume that if a person could work from morning to night and be glad of the output he generates, that person is already moving leaps and bounds towards establishing a stable foundation in the process of rebuilding his life. That individual is getting ready to enter employment again.
This is rehabilitation…not as we understand it in our society today. Because many of us unfortunately believe, that if a person goes to a rehabilitation centre then he would get rehabilitated.
The prison which offer such rehabilitation programmes also provide the opportunity for education, making it possible for the convicts to sit for O/levels and A/levels or even higher level courses while they are within the prison systems.
And the best thing is that by participating in these programmes they can earn while they are still in the the prison and this can be saved up in their own accounts or they can offer financial support to their family members even while they are serving their sentences.
Further components of the rehabilitation programmes as that in the Changi prison can include, religious and social counselling introducing faith based healing through the rehabilitation effort.
It is considered essential to deal with the family, social and personal problems an individual may have through either, individual counselling, group or family counselling.
The above just provide a glimpse of the type of programmes which may be carried out in a prison based rehabilitation programme. Ofcourse, what I have qouted above is just a bit of what I saw in one prison based rehabilitation programme. Different countries, however, can adopt different prioson based rehabilitation models and can have different components in their models.
The most important thing however, is to remember that rehabilitation cannot be forced on an individual. Individuals have to want to change, must be motivated to change, they have to want their lives to become better, whatever circumstance they may be in.
I hope that we in the Maldives will be able to have a similar or better prison based rehabilitation model. Indeed it can be made possible . The offenders, be it an addict or a convict they matter , their lives matter and it is definitely our responsibility to make a difference to the lives of the less deprived.(......to continue)
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