Drawing inspiration from Southeast Asia’s largest prison, Tihar Jail, the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi on Wednesday started its own Hotwar School of Arts, an initiative intended at nurturing new skills and instilling constructive thoughts in the prisoners for a better future.
The jail administration and Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) jointly launched the school of arts in an effort to replicate the success Tihar jail has achieved after starting a similar programme for its inmates back in 2016.
“The idea is to develop skills in the prisoners, so when they leave the jail, they can earn a livelihood. Art also has a major contribution in channelizing the energy of the prisoners and transforming destructive thought patterns into constructive ones,” said Arun Kumar Rai, member secretary, JHALSA.
Tihar jail has witnessed such an overwhelming response in the past three years that the paintings made by its inmates are now being sold to art enthusiasts across the country. The jail administration pays half of the price for which their art work is sold to the inmates. According to media reports, some of the inmates there have earned more than Rs.1 lakh in a year by only selling their art work.
“Once a prisoner is done serving his term, the skills that he develops will help him get employment,” said Rai, adding that the programme is not a compulsion for the inmates instead they get to volunteer to be a part of it.
During his visit to the school on Wednesday, Rai also spoke to some of the prisoners who said that participation in the programme not only ended their monotony but also added a purpose to their daily life.
The prisoners here will also get to learn Sohrai, the traditional art of Jharkhand in which artisans depict stories through paintings on walls. Besides Sohrai, other art forms, including sculpture and canvas paintings will also be taught to the prisoners, said Jail officials.
Psychiatrists feel that the initiative is a huge bonus for the prisoners who are willing to change their lifestyle and lead a healthy life after being set free. “Any person kept in confinement requires some or the other recreational activity. By the time he is out of jail, he has lost everything. At that time, the skills that he learns will help him adapt to the changes in his life and start afresh,” said Dr. Nishant Goyal, Assistant Professor, Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi.
The school has been started on the initiatives of JHALSA Executive Chairman, Justice DN Patel, who has worked relentlessly on legal awareness and rehabilitation prospects of jail inmates in Jharkhand. Justice Patel, who has been named the new Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, could not attend the ceremony as he had to rush to Ahmedabad on Wednesday.