Counselling for life convicts who have been granted remission

Mangalore Today News Network

Nov 14, 2016: For 84-year-old Varade Gowda from Tumakuru, the wait for the Republic Day 2017, seems to be long. He is among the 240 prisoners, serving life sentence, scheduled to be prematurely released on January 26, 2017.

The senior citizen came to the prison in 2004, and like many others in the Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara, he is insecure about his future when gets freed. It is for people like him the Prisons Department, along with NGO Peacemakers, has introduced ‘Roopantara – A journey of transformation’.  

The programme will ensure that the prisoners are mentally and physically prepared for stepping out into the world after spending years behind the walls of the prison. As part of the programme, individual profiling of convicts will be done through interviews and a database of their profiles will be built. Help of the convict’s family will be taken to facilitate smooth reintegration. They will also be supported after their release and there will be a follow-up up to three months.

Home Minister G. Parameshawara said that the department did not have a database of prisoners who had been released.

“We will be doing this through the new initiative. Apart from this, Director-General of Police, Prisons, H.N. Sathyanarayana Rao has submitted a proposal to have councillors for prisoners. I will consider that along with the proposal to have councillors for policemen,” the Minister said.

DGP Rao said there was a need for a institutionalised rehabilitation programme for prisoners. He also stressed the need for providing elementary education for prisoners.