Buy products from jail inmates to be part of UAE Year of Giving
dubai — The Dubai Police opened a five-day exhibition of a wide range of handicraft, and other items made by inmates at the Mercato Mall in Jumeirah.
Brigadier-General Ali Al Shamali, director-general of penal and correctional institutions at Dubai Police, opened the Inmates Products Exhibition in line with the Year of Giving initiative.
Brigadier Dr Jassim Khalil Mirza, director of security media department, Nasrin Bustani, director of public relations at Mercato Mall and Town Centre, Jumeirah, and a number of officers, attended the opening ceremony.
Brigadier Ali Al Shamali said the exhibition comes from the keenness of the Dubai Police General Command on the community responsibility towards the different groups of society. Nisrin Bustani praised the partnership with the Dubai Police represented by the general department of punitive and correctional institutions, which serves all segments of society.
The exhibition aims to stand by the inmates and help in selling their products, and provides them with psychological and material support for their rehabilitation.
He said that the exhibition is an opportunity for the community to learn about the talents and crafts that inmates have learned in the Dubai Central Jail. They can see how the inmates have developed skills and are helping their families.
The Dubai Police aims to enroll the inmates in various craft courses in line with their aspirations for reformation. They are allowed to choose from among a number of rehabilitation programmes and educational workshops for training. To tap the potential of inmates and help them participate in the rehabilitation, the police are encouraging them to work daily.
Profit-making sale
Meanwhile, the Dubai Police have reached an agreement with various authorities to sell the their products and the prisoners will be given five per cent of the product’s value.
Al Shamali said this year the inmates have built more than four bikes. The number of products of inmates reached 6,990 and sales revenues from crafts reached Dh2.3million. Last year, it was Dh1.1million.
He also praised humanitarian initiatives by the businesses including Al Futtaim automobile for their efforts to rehabilitate, train prisoners so that they can achieve social inclusion and be able to support themselves.
He said 20 inmates attended courses for making bikes by assembling the spare parts and the revenue from bike making touched Dh1.2 million this year. The Dubai Police have inked with outlets like Union Cooperative and others to exhibit the products of inmates.
Al Shamali said that training inmates to be productive is a humanitarian mission and their monthly salaries help them meet their personal needs.
He said that prisoners attended workshops and projects in order to earn money that they can spend in the jail shop. The inmates also learn agriculture and landscaping. Some of inmates have their own business and workshops back home.
Women inmates learn handicraft works, fashion designing, home decoration, sewing, embroidery, art work, gifts and antiques, household accessories as well as games, sculpturing and painting. The new products of inmates include round chairs for gardens, mobile laundry among others.
amira@khaleejtimes.com