Job training programs offer hope for former prisoners
Jiang Lei has started a new life growing strawberries.
Life is sweet for former prisoner Jiang Lei who is now working as a strawberry farmer.
The 32-year-old recently received a windfall, 980 yuan (US$154.25), after selling his first batch of strawberries.
He was released from Shanghai's Qingpu Prison on December 16 last year.
He is now working hard to become a specialist in a farming industrial corps with the help of the prison and Qingpu-based Lusheng Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative.
This is thanks to new project launched by the prison and supported by the firm.
The project aims to provide a buffering station for those who have just finished a jail term and are not ready for return to society.
Jiang is the first to benefit from the project.
Because of poverty and a lack of education, Jiang erred – committing the crime of breaking into power supply facilities. He was sentenced to seven years in jail.
After assessment by prison staff and the evaluation by the cooperative, the former prisoner has been allocated a plot to learn how to grow strawberries.
The company will also provide a living place with basic supplies.
Jiang's wife has moved to be near him and found a job near his temporary accommodation with the help of the firm.
"Although in the short term, the project is a pure investment for the cooperative," said Li Jiancheng, Party secretary of the cooperative. "In the long run, it is a manifestation of the company's social responsibility, which will bring positive returns to our company.
"The way we provide help for those people in need will better educate our employees and enhance their sense of belonging to the company."
During the recent resurgence of COVID-19 pandemic, some employees of the cooperative did not return home for than more four months due to the need for epidemic prevention and control.
However, very few of them chose to resign, because the company has tried its best to take care of their families and other emergency situations, according to Li.
Officials from Qingpu Prison said they chose this company because of its people-oriented corporate culture.
A prisoner works with baskets of mushrooms.
The prison has started to provide various courses such as agriculture, vehicle repairing, garment making as well as intangible heritage handcraft to criminals, aiming to educate them through "teaching them how to fish instead of giving them fish," according to Xie Zhongming, the political commissar.
"We have been working hard to reform these criminals from the perspective of human nature and responsibility, and correct their wrong thinking about crime, fundamentally," Xie explained.
"Just like the project, a living skill is the key for them to build a stable life."
Jiang registered for the agricultural course as soon as he saw the notice.
Xu Jingbing, deputy director of the prison, said: "We have established a small farm inside the prison to provide inmates a place to practice their knowledge. There are greenhouses for vegetable growing inside the prison."
The prison named the farm "Isun Modern Agriculture Development Ground," and named the project "Isun Return Work Platform," which means love sunshine and life.
Officials said they plan to use the practice of agriculture to build a model which can be promoted in other industry such as clothing and industrial arts.
"Offering them a skill to build a stable life is the most effective way to prevent former prisoners committing crimes again," Xu said. "Our police officers are the most lovable people in the era of peace because we lived in the 'battle field without smoke of gunpowder'".
In the future, there will be more platforms for prisoners to return to society in different industries to be set in the city, according to the prison.
Isun Modern Agricultural Development Ground in Qingpu Prison.
The greenhouses in Qingpu Prison.
