Dhaka: Bangladesh has introduced a
meditation course for its jail inmates with prison officials
saying the pioneering work at India`s Tihar jail prompted them
to launch the service to reform prisoners.
"In the past three years of my experience as the
prison chief, I saw same people are coming back to jail
committing the same crime as our routine counselling service
appeared to be of little use. They actually need spiritual and
mental purification," Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier
General Mohammad Ashraful Islam Khan told PTI.
Khan, an army doctor with expertise in preventive
medicine serving as the prison chief on deputation, said that
he expected the course would help to rectify prisoners and
prevent recurrence of crimes through the meditative practices
as "it worked in Tihar jail in India and prisons in Sri
Lanka".
Quantum Foundation, the leading and pioneering
meditation school in Bangladesh, offered its free and
voluntary service designing a special 10-day course outline
for the inmates.
"We want to hate the sin, not the sinners this was
our principle in offering the service for the jail inmates,"
said founder chief of Quantum Foundation.
The foundation`s director Suraiya Akhtar said 40 males
and similar number of female inmates, who joined the maiden
meditation course separately for the second consecutive day
today, "massively responded".
The prison chief said they selected the 80 prisoners,
who were languishing in jails with longer term sentences, were
selected for the maiden course as "we planned to develop the
meditation instructors from them for running the practice
sessions".
The initiative came a month after Dhaka hosted an
international jail conference, also joined by famous former
Indian police official Kiran Bedi, who earned a special repute
for introducing the meditation course in Tihar jail while she
was in charge of the correction centre there.
PTI
