Prisoners at the Thu Duc jail (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) - Officials at Thu Duc jail haveturned it into a place of education and support for its nearly 200 foreignprisoners, helping them become a better version of themselves before returning home.

Along with policies on meals, clothing, and healthcareservices, regulations like reducing prison time and amnesties have been introducedfor foreign prisoners, as they have been for Vietnamese prisoners.

Policies allowing foreign prisoners to meet relatives andhave consular contact are also in place.

John Nguyen, a prisoner of the American nationality, said he has beenin jail for 19 years and found the people and environment friendly enough. Anytime his family members visit, they feel peace of mind and encourage him to behave himself,he said.

Closing the book he was reading, Nicholas Stars, a42-year-old Nigerian, said he has served five years and has ten to go. Using hisgood Vietnamese, he said he enjoys the meals and comfortable environment.

“The officers here are kind,” he said. “I have a consularmeeting every four months, and my family visit me once or twice a year. I feel okay.”

Foreign prisoners have received vocational trainingand academic studies and joined artistic and sporting activities, so can morereadily return to society and become useful citizens.

Work is designed to suit the age and physicalcondition of each prisoner, helping them understand the value of labour while nurturingtheir confidence.

Chinese national Li Chun Ying said that thanks to advicegiven by wardens, she now feels much better than when she first arrived.

“Female prisoners are treated well,” she said. “Notonly do we receive life’s necessities, we can also study Vietnamese, play sports,sing karaoke, and access healthcare services when we are sick.” Li has won many of the tabletennis tournaments held at the jail.

“I am grateful to the officials here, who have made mefeel at home.”

Speaking of her time in Thu Duc, Thai prisonerPreayamooch said the living conditions are totally different from what she hadimagined. The officers are friendly and helpful, allowing her to settle into lifebehind bars, while she is subject to the same policies as her Vietnamese peers.

“My family are happy to see the conditions I live in andencourage me to follow the regulations and return home as soon as possible,”she said.

As part of efforts to educate prisoners, officers havefocused on teaching them Vietnamese, through which they can also gain a betterunderstanding of Vietnamese culture.

Peng Kang Yu, a Taiwanese who is monitor of theVietnamese class, said studying the local language helps prisoners become closertogether. Knowing how to read Vietnamese also allows them to read books from thejail’s library.

Preayamooch said that after returning to Thailand, shewill find a job relating to Vietnam and continue using her Vietnamese skills.

Mohd Hafiz Gomez Bin Abdullah, a Malaysian who was quiteunruly when he first arrived at the jail 19 years ago, said the support from jailofficers changed him and made him determined to change his ways.

He said through learning Vietnamese he has come to lovethe culture and people of Vietnam.

ꦑ “I have enjoyed seven sentence reductions and onlyhave ten more months here,” he said with a smile. “It will pass quickly. Alongwith my family, I also have a Vietnamese girlfriend waiting for me outside.”

Before returning to Australia, Kevin Willia De Santos wrote: "I have served my sentence in Vietnam for four years and 11 months. While here, I have been fairly treated, even sometimes better-than-expected...I always feel comfortable and safe during the days of serving the sentence."

Colonel Pham Thi Minh Hai, an officer at the Thu Duc jail,said that, like their peers in other jails, officers at Thu Duc have workedhard to help prisoners, including foreigners, recognise their wrongdoings andbecome better people.

“This is not a place for caging and punishing criminals,but a place to educate and support them so they become more confident and resettheir lives,” Hai said.

“They are not ‘prisoners’ as such, they are people fixingtheir mistakes,” he added, emphasising that their management and education mustbe in line with the law and in the spirit of humanitarianism and respect,ensuring their human rights.

💖 “By doing this, we can turn jails into schools forthose who had chosen the wrong paths,” Hai said./.