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My real imprisonment starts when I go out. Proportionally built with fair complexion and thoughtful eyes, a confident looking Sharma opens the chapter to the journey of his life in prison. Convicted of murder, Sharma was sentenced for life 10 1/2 years ago. According to the forty-four year old, the Yellow Ribbon Program was initiated with the optimism of re-integrating the ex-convicts into the community and yet it is so complicated when an offender is released to unite with his loved ones. For Sharma, it is the second prison that he will be sent to if this is how he will be confronted in the society. Being a first offender with an educational background, it was not difficult for him to adapt into the disciplinary environment at the Prisons. “My first five minutes in prison were very shocking”, he said. The conditions were appalling then but he adjusted quickly. Being a loner and an introvert in character, Sharma always prefers to keep to himself. “I don’t like crowds and prison was like heaven giving me so much of free time alone”, he said. He conveyed that there are good rehab programs in place in the prison which the inmates should take advantage of. “The wonderful thing is that these programs are flexible and we get to choose our own rehabilitation pathways”, he said. Sharma chose to advance his academic career for which he studied a lot. According to him the Yellow Ribbon Program should be widely promoted within the community. “One thing the community needs to understand that there are some very good people who came here because of minor faults or mistakes and there are also the hardened criminals who’ll continue to become criminals”, he added. On the same note Sharma said that there are varieties of people and not one or two in the prisons. “As far as public acceptance is concerned, I beg the community to take individual cases and not to brand them all as criminals”, he said. When questioned, if he has any regrets, he responded saying he has lost a life, one chapter of which has ended and a new one began. “I’ll have regrets forever”. “You have made a mistake and have to learn and carry on”. He said the facilities and the environment are good because he created his own environment. In ensuring that he is engrossed in educational activities and emerges a good conduct, Sharma always kept himself away from the hardened criminals. Because of his education and qualification, he was treated differently giving no problems to the officers’ in charge. Sharma says food behind the bars is ok as it is a balanced diet. Regardless of the fact that it is monotonous, the food provided to inmates is good for health. Through his professional education, he has been able to assist a lot of people and also initiated some projects in prison. Initially, he was asked to train some medical officers in Prison. Having a good experience in the medical field, he sights the prison medical system as a good one and a king to a health care system. Prison officers are medically trained and have an improved healthcare system. Speaking on his personal achievements and future plans, Sharma said. “I want to go in medical journalism”. “At the moment, I am doing self study and am trying to improve my writing skills”. He has also done diploma programs in counselling and is also a Counsellor at the moment. However his practice is more towards medical counselling such as suffering which is the medical program plus the stress and deficiencies faced by an individual. He has found counselling to be fruitful in the prison. “I realize that counselling is a key word and if I had excess to counsellors I would not have been here in the first place”, he elucidated. Speaking with a sense of certainty, Sharma says counselling is not important only in the prison but also out in the community. He has counselled certain prisoners finding it difficult to tolerate imprisonment and has helped them to overcome this better. The knowledgeable bloke has gained quite a lot of recognition through his educational background and also been a contributor to the medical journals through his articles. This indeed was a memorable moment for Sharma when he had his article printed in the General Practitioners Journal. He is grateful to the Yellow Ribbon Program that largely focuses on the acceptance of the ex-convicts. Further, the not so chatty Sharma adds it is difficult to say on the overall integration of ex-inmates into the society. He said the integration is not problematic if an ex-offender has a good support system. Lastly, Sharma expressed that there are evil people outside as well and not only in the prison. -END- By: Sharila Lazarus Information Officer Office of Attorney-General, Ministry of Justice |
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