By C V Joseph
Bengaluru, Nov 23, 2019: The Prison Ministry India (PMI) has completed 25 years bringing succor to thousands of the lost, least and the last languishing in various jails in the country.
More than 420 volunteers of the voluntary organization which functions under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India on November 19 gathered at St Joseph’s College Auditorium in Bengaluru to praise and thank God for the grace to work for the integral human development of prisoners.
The jubilee celebrations began with a concelebrated Mass led by Bishop Allwyn D’Silva, the ministry chairperson.
Father Varghese Karippery, the ministry’s co-founder, in his homily highlighted the unconditional and forgiving love as the golden key for the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners.
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore in his address, prior to the benediction, stressed the significance of documentation and research studies of prison visits and rehabilitation centers.
Students from homes meant for prisoners’ children such as Premodaya and Kolbe Home presented a variety of cultural items such as dances and mimes.
Earlier, the jubilee celebrations began with the Eucharistic Adoration in the morning where all the volunteers and participants offered glorified God for the blessings in the past 25 years.
Father Kodiyan, in his welcome address, stated that PMI has 7,000 volunteers, 5,000 rehabilitated and reformed released prisoners, 850 units, 10 rehabilitation centers and 10 homes for prisoners’ children.
He said that the organization began in Kerala in 1986 and extended its ministry to all Indian states in 1994. With the silver jubilee, it will extend its ministry to Asian countries, Father Kodiyan added.
Bishop D’Silva, who is also the president of the jubilee committee, emphasized the significance of visiting prisons and conveying the forgiving love of God to prisoners.
He appreciated what the ministry does for the release, reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners.
Bishop D’Silva released the documentary film on Prison Ministry India produced and directed by Lavy Pinto.
Two books written by Dr Francis Kodiyan, The Lost – An Eightfold Path for Prisoners’ Transformation; Rainbow – The Theological Foundations of Prison Ministry India; Reformative Explorations – A Psycho-Spiritual and Crimino-Social Quarterly on Reformation and Rehabilitation, and the Silver Jubilee Souvenir were released on the occasion.
The founder fathers, pioneers, national coordinators, all those who completed 25 years of service in this ministry, all the national office staff in the past 25 years were remembered and honored at the function with mementos and certificates.
All those who completed 14 years in the ministry were also honored and presented with certificates.
PMI volunteers regularly visit 1,412 prisons in India and do whatever is possible for their release and rehabilitation, the organizers said.
They provide prisoners moral instructions, cultural and entertainment programs, counseling and spiritual directions. They console the broken-hearted through letters, setting-up of libraries, job-oriented training programs, literary, arts and sports competitions, preparing prisoners to write school and University exams, conducting medical camps, providing free legal aid, releasing prisoners, assisting foreign nationals with the help of embassies and assisting Indian citizens in foreign prisons.
Other services include rehabilitation centers for the released prisoners, homes for prisoners’ children, educational assistance for prisoners’ children, research and documentation center, volunteers training programs, legal cells to assist prisoners, counseling and moral instructions in rehabilitation centers, reconciliation and forgiveness with victims, counselling prisoners’ families, marriage settlement, vocational training and job settlement and house construction and settlement in family
The ministry also assists to get prisoners with good behavior released ahead of their terms, providing legal assistance to those jailed with no offence committed, proving financial assistance to those arrested in petty cases and first time offenders.