00:00This replica of the Prime Minister is but one of the pieces available for purchase at the art exhibition put
00:08on by the inmates of the nation's prisons in collaboration with Raja Yoga Prison Ministry, the Prison Service and the
00:15Art Fusion School.
00:17That is what we are celebrating here, the possibilities. The possibility of change, the possibility of healing, the possibility of
00:31discovering a talent that may have been hidden.
00:36And the possibility that with encouraging and with encouragement and opportunities a person can, a person's life can take a
00:47different direction.
00:49In mid, Leslie Huggins says he stands as a living testimony of the power of art to rehabilitate.
00:56My journey to prison is like the good, the bad and the ugly.
01:00But I choose the good, and that is art. And art is what made me the person I am today,
01:05a reformed inmate.
01:07So when you are looking at the paintings, you are not just looking at a beautiful painting, you are looking
01:12at a reformed inmate.
01:14You are looking at an inmate who have changed their minds.
01:19Meantime, President of the Art Society Peter Shepard points out that while art has provided the inmates with a means
01:26of therapy,
01:27it is also an opportunity to earn income.
01:30What we can do to encourage this is we can invest in this kind of work, because we are not
01:36investing in just this commodity.
01:38We are investing in someone's future. And we are not thinking of them as what has happened in the past.
01:44We are thinking about where they can be in the future.
01:48Acting Prisons Commissioner Elvince Canterbury noted the far-reaching potential of the program.
01:53We have found, in partnership with Sister Kay and the Ragusa team, over 39 years ago, she dared come into
02:03the prison.
02:03She dared come to the Carrera Convict Prison and said, I believe.
02:08I believe that what I bring here will change lives, will affect lives.
02:13And I tell you, Sister Kay, it's not just one and two and three.
02:18The exponential value is that those guys will go out there now and create families that will walk the right
02:24path and do the right thing.
02:25Meantime, Justice Minister Devish Maharaj is promising further support for rehabilitation efforts inside prison walls,
02:33a mission which is currently spearheaded by NGOs.
02:36Renasa Katting, TV6 News.
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