Dubai Police revealed the first experiment of its kind in the world, which is a collection of stories under the title "I will fly tomorrow", written by inmates and inmates in the central prison in Dubai, published under the auspices and training of the Emirates Literature Foundation.
The Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, said in the opening story of the collection, that it is the result of a difficult and exceptional effort, undertaken by a variety of parties, including officers and members of the penal and correctional institutions, international writers, inmates and partners in the Emirates Literature Foundation, pointing out that The project spanned three years.
He added that «the visits of international and local writers to the residents of penal institutions since the beginning of the literary cooperation have become an important value for them, and they are eagerly waiting for them, which led us to move to a next stage, which is their participation in writing courses and workshops, which eventually resulted in the discovery of real talents, co-authored the book Which represents an unprecedented experience, opened the way for honing the skills of creative inmates, and encouraging them to start a new life full of optimism.
For its part, the director of the women's prison, Lt. Col. Jamila Al Zaabi, said that the project started three years ago with visits from the book, with the aim of encouraging inmates to read, then the idea developed by holding writing sessions, and 27 inmates and inmates were selected to participate in the final qualifiers, and the best of them were chosen, And co-authored the book in English.
She added that the beautiful in the book is that it represents the first gesture of its kind that allows the inmate to write from inside the prison, in contrast to the usual practice in which the inmate writes after the exit, in a few cases.
She emphasized that transparency is the criterion for the relationship between the police and the inmates of penal institutions, as it gives them an opportunity to express and practice their hobbies, pointing out that the anecdotal group was written by inmates without interference from anyone, after subjecting them to training courses.
She explained that «love is the basis of the relationship between officers and members of penal institutions and inmates, so we made sure to provide all means of care, especially for mothers inside institutions, and the Dubai Police established a nursery to accommodate children, and not to separate them from their mothers, to ensure their upbringing in a natural way that is not different from its counterpart abroad» .
For his part, the director of the Education and Training Department in the Punitive and Correctional Institutions, Major Mohammed Al-Obaidli, said that Dubai Police is well aware that the inmate is a person who has made a mistake and is being punished, and he must have the opportunity to reform and start a new positive life, so he embraces talents, to the extent that two detainees obtained patents An invention from within the prison.
He pointed out that he spent more than 17 years inside the penal and correctional institutions, so he spends more hours with inmates than he does with his family and friends, and most of them have good relations, pointing out that «the beginning of the cultural aspect inside the prison was the desire of some inmates to bring books with them for reading And left it to others after their release, and from here we thought about establishing a library, and the project has grown to become a major library, in addition to participating in the Dubai Public Library, to provide an opportunity to borrow from it, in addition to a section for documentaries and e-books ». He added that the Emirates Literature Foundation contacted us three years ago, and built a constructive partnership, which started with visits by writers and writers, until I reached this exceptional literary project.
Second chance
"This project was launched with the conviction that every person deserves a second chance, so we decided to provide all support and support, and the initiative was enthusiastically accepted by a large number of inmates, so we subjected them to training, and we published their literary works that contain influential stories." Emotional and embody their experiences ».