FAISALABAD: The artworks and handicrafts made by the women prisoners of various prisons of the province are on sale at an outlet set up by the Punjab Prisons Department outside the Chenab Club.

Dozens of products like carpets, outfits, wall hangers, handbags, ladies suits, pencils, bed sheets, cushions, paintings, jewellery, hand fans and other handmade products are on display for sale.

A portion of the funds generated by the sale of these products would be shared with the prisoners so that they could financially assist their families.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had inaugurated the shop during his visit a couple of months ago and the land for it had been provided by the district administration.

Muzamail Hussain, an employee of the prisons department, is serving as a salesman at this point.

Talking toDawn, he said three employees of the prisons department had been deployed at the shop in two shifts to deal with the visitors. He termed the sale of the handicrafts encouraging.

“We brief the visitors in detail about the products and how much share of sales amount would go to the prisoners.”

Hussain said the handicrafts displayed there were brought from different jails of the province and they were taking good care of these products although the outlet space was small.

Bilqees Bibi and her friendweresurprised to know that the products made by the prisoners were being sold at a shop.

Bilqees said she had come to an adjacent shop to purchase some outfits and saw the women prisoners’ handicrafts by chance. She lauded the authorities for exhibiting the skills of the prisoners, hoping that the move would ultimately strengthen the financial positions of their families.

“One cannot imagine the sort of hardships the families of prisoners go through after their incarceration,” she said and added that a foolproof mechanism must be introduced to transfer share of the sale to the prisoners’ families.

Bilqees suggested that computer-related training must be provided to the prisoners as e-commerce was gripping the world rapidly and we had ample human resources to get our share globally.

Talking about the training of the jail inmates, Hussain said the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) officials used to visit the jail for training. He said the officials had launched various training programmes for the prisoners.

Mohsin Ali, a student of first year, who was also present at this display centre along with his brothers, appreciated the prison department for displaying the handicrafts, showing the skills of the prisoners. He said the approach would ultimately benefit prisoners as well.

He said they were not aware of the display centre and his father told them about this with a suggestion to visit this point.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2021