Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A ray of hope
By Priyanwada Ranawaka
“Prisoners are human beings. The only difference between them and us is our circumstances.” This was the idea that was highlighted at the workshop held last Saturday at Bishop’s College, as a part of an ongoing project by the Interactors of St. Bridget’s Convent and Bishop’s College. The workshop comprised speeches by various invitees on the topics of drug abuse and sexual abuse as well as the current situation in prisons due to an influx of inmates.

Florine Marzook, the Chief Guest at the event explained the realities of life behind bars. She also spoke of the findings of her own research regarding sexually abused boys in the correctional centres , just outside Negombo. Rev. Sister Immaculate the head nun at Welcome House run by the Good Shepherd Convent sisters, shared her experiences of working with the prison inmates. Kalinga Indhathissa, an attorney-at-law, enlightened the students on the existing laws on drug abuse. Savithri Wijesekara of Women In Need spoke of the laws on sexual abuse.

There was a poster competition held at the end of the workshop for the participants where they were asked to work in groups to bring out the best poster depicting the topics that were dealt with during the day. The Interactors of both schools have been carrying out a project regarding the status of women prisoners. “We visited a prison where we learnt a lot about their plight,” explained Camellia Ebert, an Interactor from St. Bridget’s Convent. The knowledge that nearly 50% of women in prison were caught for drug trafficking influenced them to continue with the project in collaboration with the Interactors of Bishop’s College.

The first step they took was to enlighten the women living in the slum areas of Colombo on the laws against the trafficking of drugs. They had also done several awareness programmes inside their schools as well as in fellow schools about the adverse effects of using drugs. “We wanted to spread the message of drug prevention to everyone we possibly could,” explains Thaimi Mohamed, an Interactor of Bishop’s College.

Having visited the Welikada prison, the Interactors had seen the many difficulties faced by the women prisoners due to the lack of facilities and material needs. The Interactors had found out details about the history of the prisoners and the charges against them from the prison authorities.

“We also came to know that the prison laws prevailing in Sri Lanka are almost 150 years old,” said Sulochana Dissanayake, President of the Interact Club of St. Bridget’s Convent, adding that she and her friends were shocked to find out that some women are simply staying in prison due to missing documents regarding the duration of their prison terms.

During the workshop, there was a slide show of pictures taken during the Avurudu festival, which had been organised by the Interactors last April, inside the Welikada prison. “Some of the women in prison have children and it was a good time for all of them,” explained Sulochana.

The walls of the Bishop’s Main Hall were decorated with pictures and posters drawn by the prisoners. The Interactors are hoping to continue to assist some of the women inmates. Organisations and societies interested in supporting them can contact: Int. Camelia Ebert 2784419 or Int. Thaimi Mohomad 2572920.

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