Roj Bash Kurdistan

Prisoners in Erbil learn new crafts and skills

Prisoners held in an Erbil correctional facility are taught new practical skills to earn money for their families and to help their rehabilitation after their release

The Directorate of Adult Reform in Erbil provides courses in various skills and crafts from tailoring to carpentry.

“We’ve received many army tenders [to tailor army uniforms]. We sell clothes outside [the prison],” one inmate told Rudaw.

“The directorate of this prison is very kind to us. Some of those who learned here now have their own shops. They fund their families. People from outside like academies and markets buy things from us like girls’ dresses, pants, and school uniforms.”

“I have been in prison for 13 years. I work and send products outside,” another inmate told Rudaw.

“The sales are good. I can make sofa sets, chairs, and meal tables from wood. I was able to make money in prison and sent it to my family outside. I have been helping my family.”

The Directorate of Adult Reform holds 1,200 prisoners. Most of them have been trained in a craft –taught by fellow inmates.

“Those who don’t know a craft, we give them different training and craft courses,” Hemin Faruq Nanakaly, the directorate’s chief, told Rudaw.

“So they learn a craft and when their punishment is done and they are returned to the society, they’ll have their own job. We’re trying to make an online market for them so they can sell their products on a website and benefit from it.”

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/18082019

Now that's an actual great way to work towards peace.
Many people are joining aggressive militant forces like ISIS because they're failing in life (they don't have a job, don't have anything to be proud of... It's like the people who are joining nationalist parties like AfD in Germany or the National Front in France): they're losers, and someone comes to them to tell them "don't worry, you're not a loser, you're a Muslim and it's the greatest thing in the world, just show yourself as a hero and everyone will cherish your name". So, since they've got nothing to lose, are alienated from society and want both to be admired and take their revenge on the world, they join a terror group.

But now, people are taught jobs and crafts which will help them to do something productive in life, they can become good at something, which will provide both pride and money for them to raise a family, and the appeal of ISIS and other terror groups suddenly decreases.