Creative thinker comes to transform Bengal jails

Kolkata, May 17 The lack of modern training facilities for the jailors of high security jails together with rote thinking has stood in the way of transforming jails into correctional homes. To address the slackness of officials and to acquaint them with the lateral thinking of Edward de Bono, a famous creative thinker, a workshop was organised at NSHM Knowledge campus, a management school on Saturday.

The Inspector General, B D Sharma, along with twelve senior officers participated in the day-long workshop.

On the agenda were the issues like usage of cellphones by the jail inmates and improving the quality of food served to them. During the the workshop the officials were made aware of the entire approach of lateral thinking.

In the later part of the day, they exercised the concept trying to reach on a consensus on the various critical issues relating to the prisons.

According to Sharma, after the implementation of the West Bengal Correctional Services Act about, 2,000 prisons in the state have been termed as correctional homes. “We need to give training to the officers from the lowest order to the highest one,” said Sharma.

Citing various initiatives like allowing the inmates to engage in music, theatre and fine arts, Sharma further said that such workshops can work wonders by increasing coordination among officers and ease the decision-making process.

“Usually we have students from schools and colleges attending such workshops but in spite of being from the service sectors the officers imbibed the ideas well,” said Madhupa Bakshi, the Head of Department of Communication Management and a resource person in the workshop.

The workshop will generate options that will help them think in a different way, added Bakshi.