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Bogambara Prison gets garment factory as part of inmate rehabilitation

by S.M. Jiffrey Abedeen - Kandy South group correspondent

A garment factory was opened in the Bogambara Prisons as another step towards rehabilitation and correction of prison inmates by the Minister of Central Region Development Tissa Attanayake, on Sunday.

This is the first garment factory inside a prison premises and was named 'Bogambara Prison Freedom X Garment.

The factory which is up to international standards was set up by planter turned entrepreneur Neil Bogahalanda.

Minister Tissa Attanayake said under normal circumstances people think that prisoners are people who are convicted by law and confined to the four walls of the prison and they undergo this for the crime they had committed.

All the inmates of this prison may not be wrongdoers but they have been found guilty before the law and are serving their sentence. There are some who are habitual offenders who keep coming back to the prison having fallen foul of the law. These people will have to be reformed by teaching some trade for which there is a demand in the outside world.

Thus this garment factory fulfils this need. When the prisoners who are taught this trade are released, they will know a trade and will have money in their hands which will help them to get back to the society without much problem above all they will not be a burden on others.

The Minister said that this garment factory is an important milestone in the history of prisons. There is a big demand for jobs in the garment trade. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has made plans to develop Kandy which is a Heritage City.

The Bogambara Prisons which has been here for over 130 years will be shifted to a location outside Kandy City and a Cultural Centre has been proposed at this site.

Prisoners who work in the garment factory will be paid an allowance and 60 percent of which will be deposited in his pass book, 20 per cent will go to the government and the balance 20 per cent to the Prisons Welfare Fund. He paid tribute to the Superintendent of Prisons Kandy, Walter Bandara for keeping the place clean and looking into the welfare of the staff and the inmates of the prison.

The prime mover of this project Neil Bogahalanda said that he is happy that this project which he embarked on a few months back has seen the light of the day. When he first made this proposal three months ago, there was excellent response from the Prisons authorities.

"This is one way we could reduce crime by teaching a decent trade to an offender, so that he will not comeback to the prisons. Prisoners should not get demoralised, because they are serving a sentence in prison," Bogahalanda said.

Commissioner General of Prisons Rumy Marzook said the prisoners will be trained in the garment trade for which there is a big demand both locally and abroad and will also receive an allowance.

Initially 130 persons will be trained and these persons could get back to society as responsible citizens and lead normal lives. This is the start, and more garment factories will be opened inside prisons and the next one will be at Welikada Prisons, Marzook said.

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