AOL to teach yoga to Bihar jail inmates

As part of the on-going jail reforms, the Prison Department in Bihar has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Art of Living (AOL) to teach yoga to around 48,000 inmates lodged in 56 different prisons in the state.

The week-long training schedule has been named as a Prison SMART Programme.

Under this plan, the professional trainers from AOL will teach yoga to prisoners on the jail campuses in 56 Central, district and sub-jails in the state.

"An MoU has been signed with the AOL to impart yoga (which may serve as a stress-buster) to the jail inmates in 56 jails of Bihar," said IG (Prisons) Mithilesh Mishra.

AOL sources said that the exercise has already started at Buxar, Motihari, Patna, Siwan, Begusarai and Purnia jails. "The response has been encouraging. We will soon cover the remaining Bihar jails too," said an AOL official.

As per the memorandum of understanding, the AOL trainers will impart yoga to prisoners free of cost, while the Prison Department will provide space and other logistic support to the jail inmates.

“Under this programme, the prisoners will be taught how to handle negative emotions, how to reduce stress and how to contribute to the society in a positive manner,” said the source.

The prison reforms in Bihar were started in right earnest by former IG (Prisons) Sandeep Paundrik, when he proposed that the inmates be imparted computer training and university education through Nalanda Open University (NOU).

In the very first year of its inception, 29 prisoners (out of 31) not only became computer-savvy but cleared the examination conducted by the NOU.