‘Prisoners need to be rehabilitated with kindness’

Maharagama special corr.

The challenge of the prison officers is to channel the prisoners from darkness to light, not to send them from darkness to darkness, Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda said.“The prison should not be converted into a den of harrassment, rather it should be a rehabilitation centre,” Minister Moragoda who was the chief guest at the 12th National Prisoner’s Day celebrations held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute said recently.

The ceremony was organized jointly by the Prison’s Department, Prisoner’s Welfare Association, MJF Charitable Foundation and the Mohan Lal Greru Foundation. The Minister said punishment alone cannot reform people.

He or she should be rehabilitated with kindness, as Lord Buddha preached. “We all have weaknesses in our lives. None is born without weakness,” he said. Society and the public should be aware of this truth.

Once a prisoner is released from the prison he ceases to be a prisoner, he is an ordinary person. We must not outcast him from society. We should absorb him into society with kindness and brotherly love as pronounced in the Mahinda Chintanaya.

A new procedure should be adopted for the integration of prisoners into society. “This service had been carried out by the Prisoner’s Welfare Association for the past 92 years. On behalf of Government I would like to express our gratitude to the Association. We must do what we can to turn these persons into worthy citizens who could contribute towards the development of the nation and the country.

Chairman of the MJF Charity Fund Merille J. Fernando presented 14 prisoners who were released on the 12th National Prisoners Day, with cash donations worth Rs. 1,250,000 to restart their previous employment.

Cultural items presented by the prisoners’ added colour to the ceremony.