E-skills training: Learning tech behind prison
walls By : SHYLA SANGARAN
Kajang Prison inmates at
an e-skills training programme on multimedia and desktop publishing.
"Many
repeat offenders in prison have never learned to deal with the
real world. Prihatin Sosial Malaysia has initiated a project that
it hopes will give former prisoners a new lease of life, writes
SHYLA SANGARAN. "
FOR many inmates, there is something harder than
prison life and that is life on the outside.
Many of those behind bars are repeat offenders who have never
learned to deal with the rigours of the real world. Re-offending
cases are high mainly because former inmates are ill-equipped
to enter the job market. Often, they do not possess relevant
skills which could be used to earn a living. For now, prison
inmates are offered a vocational-based training programme
such as batik printing/painting, handicraft making and tailoring.
These courses, in most cases, are out-of-date and monotonous
in nature.
“Training of prison inmates is an international issue,”
says Prihatin Sosial Malaysia (Prihatin Malaysia) project
manager Ramanitharan Rajaram.
A recent conference in the United Kingdom confirms that
there is a greater need among the countries in the world
to formulate and implement relevant training programmes
for inmates.
“Currently, the prison is treated as a detention
centre and not as a rehabilitation centre to reduce re-offending
cases. For example, in the UK the rate of re-offending cases
is 53 per cent (out of 100 released, 53 return to prison),”
says Ramanitharan.
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We want
to give inmates guidance, hope, skills and confidence
upon their release from prison, says Ramanitharan.
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More than 80,000 prisoners in Britain are in jails and most of
them have poor education. The government found half of the inmates
lacked the skills needed for 96 per cent of jobs available on
their release. It was by offering skills and jobs on their release
that the re-offending rate dropped to almost nil.
A recent report from the Learning and Skills Development Agency
in Britain also found prisoners who received training and education
had a significantly lower recidivism rate one year after release.
After a computer training programme conducted at Bangkhen Women's
Prison in Thailand, many former inmates are now employed in jobs
that require computer skills.
The prison hired inmates to type Thai and English journal indexes
using computers. Later, the prison offered graphics-related jobs
such as making cards and leaflets, and image retouching. With
e-skills, the inmates managed to earn about 50,000 baht (RM4,930)
per month.
Prihatin Malaysia's initial interviews with prison inmates indicated
that most of them wanted relevant, industrious and “cool”
courses such as those related to information and communications
technology (ICT).
It was against this backdrop of wanting to offer former offenders
a new lease of life that Prihatin Malaysia started a project called
Inno-Youth (Innovative Youth): Empowering Kajang Prison Inmates
(Youths) in Digital Micro-Enterprises.
Launched in June 2007, the two-year project involving 250 Kajang
Prison inmates — males aged between 15 and 39 — is
an e-skills training programme which teaches participants about
multimedia and desktop publishing. The aim is to enable them to
become micro-entrepreneurs when they rejoin society.
The Inno-Youth project is Prihatin Malaysia's third project in
a correction centre. Prihatin Malaysia has also carried out similar
projects at Henry Gurney School, a school for juvenile delinquents,
and Kajang Women Prison with impressive results.
“Other prisons have also requested that we conduct similar
training but we are unable to oblige through lack of funds,”
says Ramanitharan.
Other non-governmental organisations have initiated educational
projects with juvenile prisons. For example, Shelter Home conducts
classes for juvenile inmates to help them to keep up with studies.
Companies have also come forward in providing educational computer
software, computer equipment and other resources.
Cisco Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd is one of the strategic partners
of Prihatin Malaysia. It provides free networking and essential
IT training for prison instructors.
Masterskill Colleges of Nursing & Health provides scholarships
for selected inmates to further their studies after their release.
“This is a milestone because it is the first time inmates
get scholarships to further their studies. At the end of the day
we want to show inmates that we care,” says Ramanithran.
The goal of the Inno-Youth project is to help prisoners break
the cycle of repeated arrests by equipping them with skills which
they can use to enter the job market on their release.
Project participants are in prison for a variety of offences
— gang fight, illegal motor racing, theft, snatch theft,
selling pirated digital versatile disc, blackmail, rape and murder,
among others.
“We want to give them guidance, hope, skills and confidence
upon their release from prison.”
The idea is to use ICT as a creative tool to prepare, train and
enhance the targeted group's ability to offer niche services in
multimedia and desktop publishing.
Armed with their newly acquired skills, former offenders may
venture into the following desktop publishing services: designing,
creating and publishing business name cards, flyers, brochures,
wedding invitation cards and producing creative personalised souvenir
items; digital photography (merging pictures, downloading and
printing pictures from digital camera, retouching old pictures),
scanning services and label printing; digital videography (transferring
analogue video vertical helix scan format into CDs and burning
CDs); and telecentre services (Internet, email, online bill payment,
digital faxing and copying services).
“To be able to offer these services, an InnoYouth micro-entrepreneur
will only need
a personal computer and a colour printer,” says Ramanitharan.
They may start, for an example, an e-kiosk in shopping malls
offering digital photography services, producing personalised
souvenir items or instant name card printing services.
“Our past experience clearly shows positive changes in
attitude once an opportunity is granted to inmates. In fact, most
of the participants are unaware of their own potential especially
when it comes to ICT.”
Within two weeks of training, some project participants showed
remarkable ability to produce high-quality artworks (book covers,
business name cards, CD-labels and manipulating digital photos).
Some project participants say that the opportunity to learn e-skills
while serving their terms have made them more confident to face
the outside world.
