From murder convicts to farmers: Kerala prison inmates reap harvest for Onam market

Thiruvananthapuram: In a radical departure from traditional prison reform, an Open Prison and Correctional Home for males near Thiruvananthapuram is pioneering a bold experiment in rehabilitation.

By transforming 472 acres of land into a thriving farm, the facility in Nettukaltheri is not only challenging conventional notions of incarceration but also empowering inmates to become experts in sustainable farming practices.

From cultivating rubber to raising cattle and honeybees, the prisoners are learning valuable skills that will serve them well upon release.

As the Onam festival season approaches, the Open Prison is abuzz with excitement.

Prisoners are thrilled to be reaping the rewards of their hard work, harvesting the fresh vegetables they grew with care and dedication.

They wear white shirts bearing the numbers allocated to them by the department. All of them are murder case convicts, people who either would have knowingly or accidentally killed someone or multiple people.

They are now washing their stained hands with the fertile soil in this land, carefully nurturing and caring for plants, watching them grow and flourish, and finding joy in the process.

"There is something called agricultural therapy. Nurturing a plant and seeing it flower and bear fruit is proven to have a very positive mental transformation in people. We hope this will help them lead a happy and crime-free life when they leave from here," Rajesh Kumar, superintendent in charge of the open prison, told PTI.

There are more than 350 prisoners housed in this open prison and its annexe located nearby. The prison has rubber plantations as the major cultivation.

In addition, they have vegetables, a dragon fruit farm, a grass farm, and honey bee cages, using almost all available land inside the vast campus.

They had, for some time, discontinued vegetable farming as they found it difficult to market the large quantity of organic vegetables they produce.

The open prison is located about 50 km away from Thiruvananthapuram city and it was unviable for them to transport the vegetables to the city. The prison can sell these vegetables only at rates prescribed by the Horticulture Corporation.

"We grow everything here, and this time we cultivated vegetables, aiming at the Onam market. On the day of Pooradam, (two days ahead of Thiruvonam, that is Friday), we send these vegetables to the mega Onam mart near our prison headquarters in Poojappura," Ajith Singh WR, agriculture officer of the open prison, told PTI.

The prison authorities managed to generate a revenue of Rs 2.11 crore in the last financial year from the agriculture activities alone. Moreover, these farming activities also provide them with a steady supply of quality vegetables and milk for the mess for the inmates and the staff.

"More than creating revenue for the prison, these activities are meant to be vocational training for the inmates. Many have learnt rubber tapping and other farm activities from the prison and use them even when they go out on parole," Rajesh Kumar said.

The prison also has a sales outlet at the front gate, where local people can also buy the organic vegetables produced there.

They sell the excess milk, after taking what they need for use in the mess, to the milk society. There are more than 50 cows; out of them, 20 are milching.

"Since this location shares its boundary with the forest, we face a lot of issues from wild animals. Indian Gaurs are very common, and along with wild boars, they pose a grave threat to our cultivation. We keep the prison inmates on guard round-the-clock to protect what they produce," Ajith Singh said.

Unlike other central prisons, this open prison does not have huge compound walls but only a fence. "Our inmates work in far corners of this property, and we could only send one guard to look after them. We work here showing full confidence in them," Rajesh Kumar said.

The farm features a large check dam within the property, which caters to its water needs. The cow dung and slurry from the dairy farm, along with the vermicompost from the vermicomposting yard, take care of the farm's fertiliser needs.

There are many prisoners who have been undergoing imprisonment over 20 years. Many repenting of what they had done at the spur of a moment and many hardened criminals, who had committed multiple murders and with little remorse.

An advisory board that studies the behaviour of the prisoners in Central prisons recommends the names of the prisoners to the open prison based on their good conduct and lack of tendency to jailbreak.

At the open prison, there are no cells but only barracks where many live together and have the freedom to watch TV, play indoor and outdoor games, and relax. They also have the opportunity to go home on parole five times a year.

The connection with the soil and nurturing a living plant do make them more grounded and connected as they continue to behave well inside the open prison.

With Onam day arriving, the people of Thiruvananthapuram city will also get to eat what these inmates have painstakingly grown on the farm and can also become a part of making them better citizens of tomorrow.