NEWS: Prison ‘break’ that brings hope

KAJANG: Nineteen-year-old Abu (not his real name) was a typical college student. He was studying security management and in his spare time listened to Indonesian rock and chatted on the Internet.

Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, he lived a comfortable. middle-class life until everything changed one night. He and two friends got into a scuffle and a foreigner was stabbed to death.

Now he’s in the Kajang Central Prison, where he has been these past few months, waiting to go on trial.

It’s a far cry from his college life, he told In.Tech two weeks ago. Nowadays, he has to put up with prison food, lights-out by 7pm, and if he’s lucky, two hours of TV viewing every weekend.

“I’m trying to focus on my future,” he said in Bahasa Malaysia. The light at the end of his tunnel is provided by the prison’s e-Bimbing programme, where inmates can learn IT skills so that they can find employment when they are released.

Abu is one of the more than 1,000 inmates, aged between 14 and 21, participating in the year-long programme that is being conducted at the Kajang prison and in four others around the country.

e-Bimbing teaches desktop publishing, digital photography and PC maintenance.

The inmates are also taught how to use common programs such as Microsoft Office and Corel Draw.

The only entry requirement is that the inmates have the right attitude and are eager to learn.

“It’s just like being back in school,” said Abu from in front of a PC in the prison’s training room. Around him were the other 29 participants in the class and the instructor.

Classes are from 9am to 2pm, from Monday to Friday. The classroom is equipped with about 30 PCs in rows, a colour printer, scanner, and digital camera.

All the computers are on a wireless local area network but Internet access is only available under supervision of prison authorities.

Before prison, Abu only knew how to surf the Internet and participate in online chat sessions, but now he’s learned how to create graphics on a computer.

That success has sparked off an ambition to become a graphics designer and he’s been asking his parents to buy him a PC when he gets out. “They are quite supportive,” he said.

Abu doesn’t know when that’ll be but he’s happy that e-Bimbing is teaching him new skills and keeping him occupied.

Another e-Bimbing participant is 20-year-old Ali (not real name) who has been in remand for a year at the same prison. He’s awaiting trial for illegal possession of a firearm.

Like Abu, Ali is quite taken with being able to use a computer to design graphics. “I want to set up a kiosk at the Central Market (in Kuala Lumpur),” he said.

Helping hand

e-Bimbing is the brainchild of Prihatin Malaysia, a charity organisation that among other things, uses information and communications technology (ICT) training to help prison inmates find employment or start a business after they leave prison.

The project is funded and supported by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, with the co-operation of the Prisons Department of Malaysia.

Ramanitharan Rajaram, vice-president of Prihatin Malaysia, said prisoners have so much time on their hands and many don’t know what to do with themselves.

“We offer them the opportunity to better themselves by learning a new skill or several skills,” he told In.Tech.

“With enough time and training we can teach them to be very good at whatever vocation they choose.”

There are choices aplenty. Inmates can take up batik printing, motor vehicle repair, woodworking and even baking. Training in computer skills was added about two years ago when it was found that young inmates were more inclined towards that.

The pilot programme for e-Bimbing began in June 2007 in Kajang Central Prison with 250 participants.

There are 750 e-Bimbing graduates nationwide to date. “Among those released, 50 are studying for IT diplomas, 20 are with companies designing T-shirts, wedding cards and name cards, and two have set up e-kiosks selling and designing T-shirts,” said Ramanitharan.

This helps show prisoners that they can earn a living the legal way, he said. “With the skills they learn in prison, they can easily earn RM2,000 to RM3,000 a month when they go into business after they are released,” he added.

Syamir Mustadza, 25, who is the ICT teacher at the Kajang prison, agrees. He’s been teaching there since the start of the programme.

“At first, I was not very confident that I would be successful teaching prisoners,” he said. “But many of them surprised me.”

He said the inmates realise that e-Bimbing is a golden opportunity for them to improve their lot in life and they are very dedicated to the lessons.

“Some of them can create their own designs after only three months of training and many have shown a lot of spirit and creativity,” Syamir said. “I guess the programme also gives them hope.”