Paint brushes in hands to avoid monotony

The inmates of a local prison have taken up paint brushes to beat the monotony of confinement within the four walls.
      
Not only did they paint the walls of their prison cells in myriad colours, but some of them even tried their hand at carving sculpture.
   
“It’s an initiative to reform the law-breakers as part of an overall jail reform programme. The experiment has so far turned out to be a success. Many inmates are evincing keen interest in creating art and paintings,” Samir Ranjan Sahu, Superintendent of Kendrapara jail, said.
   
Most of the inmates expressed their feelings of guilt, anguish and desperation through their paintings or sculpture.
   
Arakhita Mallick from Adampur village, who landed in jail after killing his spouse Mamata Mallick who was the sitting Sarpanch of Dashipur gram panchayat, for instance painted a portrait of a young couple with two daughters in tow.
   
''Apparently, it is an expression of his atonement and repentance for the wrong done,'' the jail superintendent said.
   
Mallick is certainly a novice in the art of drawing, but he is gradually picking up the skill. He has all the necessary traits to become a good artist, Sahu said, rather seriously.