Lifelines And Life Sentences

Prisons are spoken of during the time of a festive season like Christmas and also on a religious occasion like Vesak. These are times when prisoners receive amnesty for wrongs committed in society. This Christmas as many as 1,004 inmates from Sri Lankan prisons were released through a government initiative.   
There is a trend these days to include scenes inside prisons when teledramas are telecast in Sri Lanka. Otherwise the prison is a subject that’s left out of conversations from a Sri Lankan conversational point of view. For the record, those who receive amnesty so easily are the ones who have been ‘put behind bars’ for failing to pay their fines after being found guilty of committing minor offenses. The reason for this is the lack of finances. Government sources have confirmed that those who were released were inmates who fell into this category. 
The authorities have time and again voiced their concerns that the prisons here are overcrowding and these dwellings are in need of being refurbished. According to government statistics prisons are housing 17,500 plus inmates when these buildings collectively can hold only just 10,000 individuals. From an overcrowding perspective the media has a selling story. But from the perspective of ‘why’ they are behind bars is a story which must be viewed from a humanitarian angle. Much thought must be given to the aspect associated with stealing. 
Sometimes an individual takes what doesn’t belong to him or her simply to feed hungry mouths at home. We have often focused on the theft, but left the reason behind stealing unaddressed. We saw the culture of considering the welfare of others surface like a welcome spring in the dessert during the pandemic. Then just after the Aragalaya we observed how lunch packets were distributed to the needy and lifts were offered in vehicles to strangers when the existing regime collapsed and the governing system was in limbo. Still there were thefts taking place in society despite there being a hand extended in the form of help for the needy. 

If prisons in the country are overcrowding then we observe a problem; the crime rate is growing and nothing positive has been done to address this issue. Economic experts in Sri Lanka have often opined that the majority of middle income earners are unable to put three square meals on the table. Food security is a growing concern in this island where even some of the essential eatables are imported. Right now only the privileged can afford to shop at leading super markets without being forces to keep a tab of the total bill on a calculator.   
Time and again we have seen even well-dressed individuals shopping at super market stores being captured on CCTV cameras stealing goods.  Even severe punishment in a court of law and seeing ones name being tarnished haven’t served as deterrents. This murky past leaves us pondering whether the method of ruling the society with an iron fist must be replaced by one which educates, reprimands and forgives. 

It could work. Back in 2015 tennis star Serena Williams while dining at a crowded restaurant observed that a thief was walking away with her phone. Springing into action she caught up with the thief and eventually took back her phone. Most importantly she had given the benefit of the doubt to the thief and later asked him whether he had accidentally taken her phone. 
Many years before this incident, during the time when teenagers were hooked on the reading habit which was influenced by the Hemingway awe, there is a story of how the great writer’s wallet was stolen. Hemingway had placed an advertisement in the newspaper informing the thief about the importance of the wallet to him because it was a gift. He had stated at the end of the advertisement ‘Just return the purse and keep the money it contains because that is the prize you receive for your skills in stealing’. 
Crowding prisons are a concern, but the larger concern is not finding a solution for stealing!