"Expand your vision and see that inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help. That person is also a victim of ignorance, small-mindedness and lack of awareness. It's the stress, lack of understanding, lack of broad vision about life, and bad communication that leads to violence in society."
- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
SRIJAN (Social Rehabilitation of Inmates in Jail and Aiding the Needy) is an endeavor to provide a more holistic rehabilitative intervention to empower the prison inmates, both socially and financially. SRIJAN was started in Tihar Jail in 2010. Workshops are conducted to harness the energies of prison inmates and develop a set of skills, enabling them to earn respectful living through productive work.
Presently, handmade paper production units located on the jail premises are employing these inmates to make paper bags, lampshades, photo-frames, stationery and other utility items. There are two such units on the jail premises and one outside (which is handled by released prisoners). The inmates are paid wages for their and the prison inmates who have been released and are still with SRIJAN and are also paid for their work.
SRIJAN project in Tinsukia Jail, Assam is providing Electrical & Carpentry training to inmates. So far, more than 300 inmates have benefitted from the project.
In Central Jail in Bangalore, the Art of Living foundation runs the project “Punarnava” where 45 female inmates manufacture incense sticks, gift articles and apparel.
The products made are then supplied to companies such as TATA, HCL, IBM, GE Money and Tech Mahindra to name a few.
