Jails need not be a place associated with pain, torture, sadness or other negative emotions.
A few months back, a program focused on tobacco de-addiction was organized for the inmates of Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Jail. As is the tradition followed by most public awareness programs, this event began with an invocation song. What struck me as most remarkable was the sheer beauty of the rendition by one of the inmates, clearly the best I have heard so far.
After my address on the ill effects of tobacco and the need for and method of quitting the habit, which was well received by inmates and authorities alike, I spoke to the person who sang the invocation song and found him to be very polite and genial. Curious to know why he was jailed, I approached the jailer and his revelation left me dumbfounded. The inmate with a melodious voice had been convicted for mass murder! Ever since, he has been treading a reformative path of deep introspection and dramatic transformation, and the outcome was discernible to my eyes and ears.
That experience set me thinking.
Jails need not be a place associated with pain, torture, sadness or other negative emotions. It can, as I witnessed first-hand, be a place for positive transformation and reform. When a hardened criminal can have a change of heart with supreme individual effort, providing a conducive environment can help many more like him to turn a new leaf.
Karnataka government has taken one such step to help tobacco addicts kick the habit, with an order to reduce and subsequently stop sales of cigarettes, beedis and other tobacco products in jails all over the state. This will not only help smokers quit but also protect non-smokers from the hazards of passive smoking and have significant bearing on health of inmates.
Tobacco use in India kills approximately 10 lakh Indians each year. In Karnataka alone, nearly 28.2% of all adults use some form of tobacco. The health hazards caused by tobacco are well known, such as cancer including lung cancer, heart attack, stroke, respiratory illnesses etc. Globally, more than one third of all people are regularly exposed to the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. This exposure is responsible for about 600,000 deaths per year, about 1% of the global burden of disease worldwide. The cost of treatment of a few diseases associated with tobacco use in Karnataka is close to Rs 1,000 crore, as per a recent report released by Government of India.
Hence, effective measures need to be taken to make jails smoke free and tobacco free to protect the health of non-smokers, as also help existing tobacco users quit this fatal substance abuse. That in a sense would be a complete rehabilitation or transformation of a prisoner. Bringing about this positive healthy behavioral change in tobacco users would go a long way in improving the health of the society, and a step forward to transform their lives of these prisoners.
As the case with any change, a gradual approach works better, which is why the prison department, in the course of 8 to 10 months, is determined to first reduce and then completely eliminate the sale of cigarettes and beedis in the prisons of Karnataka. I wish the team every success from the bottom of my heart.
Dr Vishal Rao is a surgical oncologist and robotic surgeon.