Women start life afresh behind bars

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Shushila, a 35-year-old woman serving a life term for murder, never thought she could do anything useful for anyone again.

Instead today, she is training to be a beautician and also looking forward to someday begin a new life out of the jail.

Her positive attitude towards life started with her participation in a beauticians’ course offered by the authorities in Dhaka Central Jail, where she is serving time for killing her husband’s second wife.

Shafiqul Islam, jailer of Dhaka Central Jail, said the opportunity to train as a beautician was provided to female inmates as part of a new programme to engage prisoners in occupations to earn money.

The training will also help towards the rehabilitation of these women in the society once they are out from the jail.

Some 30 women are training to be beauticians at present.

Shafiq told The Daily Star that the response to the training has been very good.

A room at the jail’s day care centre has been turned into the training room for the two month long course. Beautician Papiya Zaman of Hiya Beauty Parlour in Old Dhaka is training the women four days a week.

“I am very delighted to be teaching these women confined indoors for such a long time,” Papiya told The Daily Star, “they are very keen learners”.

Papiya is teaching the prisoners essentials to get a job at a beauty parlour. These include haircuts, hair sets, eyebrow plucks, facials and make-up application, which are some of the very basic services offered at parlours.

Papiya says she is herself planning to recruit a few from amidst the prisoners when they leave the jail.

Shushila herself had no idea that she could avail such an opportunity while behind the bars. She was among the first to sign up when the training was announced two weeks ago.

Papiya quoted Sushila as saying that though she is serving time for breaking the law, she now thinks of leaving the jail with dignity when the time comes.

Jail officials say that Shushila, Morjina and a few others are offering their services to fellow inmates at present.

Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Maj Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told The Daily Star that these courses are part of the reforms introduced recently in the jail.

“We want to turn the jail into a correction centre by gradually changing the idea about punishment,” he said.

There are over 10,000 inmates Dhaka Central Jail, out of which 550 are women. The prison authorities are engaging them in different skills as repairing television, radios and fans. Many train as carpenters too.

“The step to engage prisoners in different jobs, helps to correct them,” he said, adding that when these prisoners eventually get out of jail they will no not longer consider themselves criminals.

Also at present, the DIG said, prisoners earn a good amount of money with their work, which they save or send home.

The success of the beauty training has encouraged the jail authorities to plan introducing the training in other prisons of the country.

The country’s 69 jails, including the two special jails set on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises for Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, at present accommodates 90,000 prisoners.

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