KARACHI: Surrounded by hundreds of security personnel, after being thoroughly searched before setting foot into the main building, it was rather unexpected to see colourful walls and lush green gardens on both sides of the track leading to an art room.

The room had everything which one expects to come across in an art gallery. The walls were adorned with paintings and calligraphic art, and a few inmates could be seen engaged in artworks, with some painting a scene of a landscape, and some learning how to paint.

This art room does not belong to an art institute, nor any art gallery; it is rather the spectacle of the School of Fine Arts and Music at the Central Jail, Karachi.

An inmate, Syed Furqan, who has been part of the Art School for the past eight years, is now teaching calligraphy to newcomers.

Mr Furqan was convicted of five different charges. Before being convicted, he had a business of supplying plastic bottles to the pharmaceutical companies, he told Dawn. “I get peace of mind doing calligraphy,” he said, adding that some of his relatives who come to meet him in jail get astonished to see his artwork.

Central Prison’s Fine Arts School offers inmates therapeutic opportunity to pursue freedom in creativity

According to Clinical Psychologist Dr Fareeha Kanwal, who is also an assistant professor at Bahria University Karachi’s psychology department, many therapeutic philosophies in psychology talk about rehabilitation through art, and one of the theories states that ‘the act of performing art’ is itself a kind of therapy.

The rehabilitation programme was inaugurated to educate and teach skills to inmates. It has different sections including fine art, music, short courses in languages and diplomas under Sindh Technical Board.

The School of Fine Art and Music was established in 2007. The majority of the trainers in fine arts section are the prisoners who themselves gained expertise from fine art section of the jail.

According to the data provided by the jail administration, 3,828 inmates have been enrolled in the fine art section since 2007, from which 692 prisoners have completed the course.

“Prisoners who are involved in artistic stuff, get a sense of achievement through art”, said Dr Fareeha.

Many prison-made artists never picked up a brush to paint scenery on canvas before being convicted.

Raja Ikram Ul Haque, a prisoner in his 70s, is one of them and his numerous paintings adorn the walls of Central Jail’s art school. He had been sentenced to life in prison for murder.

“There is no especially allocated budget for rehabilitation programme by the government,” told a source in jail administration.

However, SSP Jail Abdul Karim said the administration provided material used for painting and drawing upon prisoners’ request and also allowed registered non-governmental organisations to take part in the rehabilitation programme.

Faran Qureshi, the person who runs a website “Art Reserves”, which is a digital forum for selling artworks.

He initiated a project named “Freedom in Jail” in 2021 to provide these inmates a digital platform to sell their paintings.

On his website, more than 30 imprisoned artists are registered, and around 150 artworks of inmates are available for sale.

“Through this platform, these imprisoned artists got an opportunity to exhibit and sell their work”, said Mr Qureshi.

Mohammad Ajaz, an inmate who is in-charge of embroidery and painting section, is earning a living for his family while being in jail.

Naeem Butt, another inmate, admitted that doing painting enhances one’s personality. He always tries to ‘convey a message’ through his paintings.

“The process of art itself helps to release psychic nodes — abstract emotions/feelings which one is often not consciously aware of, this is why art helps in rehabilitation and treating depression,” Dr Fareeha added.

Muhammad Yusuf, convicted for murder, completed his diploma in Central Jail. He now has 13 years left to complete his life term and is learning calligraphy.

“For me, each month here is the last, and hope will be proven innocent, will return to my home and marry my fiancé,” he expressed with teary eyes.

In the past, prohibited belongings had been recovered from prisoners through several raids conducted by the jail administration. Inmates in prisons were involved in illegal activities in different ways.

However, according to Jail DSP Saeed Soomro, the administration tries its best to closely monitor the prisoners who come out of their barracks to learn any skills under the rehabilitation programme, adding that if any inmate is found engaged in other activities instead of learning, the administration immediately cancels his registration from the rehabilitation programme.

According to Dr Fareeha, rehabilitation through art is possible for every kind of prisoner, unless he’s a patient of psychosis (a mental illness) in which there could be limitations towards the prisoner’s rehabilitation.

“Having been associated with art during imprisonment, most of the prisoners didn’t engage in criminal activities after being released”, Abdul Karim Abbasi, Central Jail SSP told Dawn.

A newly enrolled inmate in art school, who was a student of mass communication before being convicted, believes that art is a potent self-care and mental health tool and it has life-changing impacts.

“Instead of wasting time in barrack, I prefer to learn some skills which would help improve my mental health,” he told Dawn.

Dr Fareeha emphasised that even if one was not earning or getting something in return, there remained a sense of doing something.

The criterion to assess any patient’s rehabilitation is their behaviour by which we determine whether the person has been rehabilitated or not, otherwise there is no standard to measure someone’s rehabilitation, the psychologist said.

Projects like these are very helpful in rehabilitating prisoners. More programmes and initiatives like this should be brought in that can be of interest to those prisoners who are not interested in fine arts, prisoners say.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023