KARACHI: There is a huge difference between Irum Farooque and the inmates at the Youthful Offenders Industrial School, a juvenile prison in Karachi. But the difference ceases to matter when the message is to help the imprisoned youth.

On a weekly basis, a confident Farooque walks into the juvenile prison with her best clothes on, her nails painted in bright red, and not a hair out of place. Farooque does not look like she belongs there and does not attempt to apologise for that either.

Upon her arrival she is stopped by the guardsmen because the head of the prison, Officer M. Asif wants to speak with her. Newly assigned to the juvenile prison sector, Officer Asif wants Farooque’s input on how to create a better environment for the juvenile offenders.

Currently, there are 20 prisons in Sindh holding an estimated 18, 234 inmates, including men, women and juveniles. According to 2008 Home department statistics, about 303 inmates in the system are juveniles.

The founder and director of the not-for-profit organisation The Volunteers – Voice of the Civil Society (VOTCS), Farooque has been holding motivational classes with juvenile delinquents for more than a year – the young inmates in tattered clothing gather eagerly to meet her in a dusty room filled with empty desk and chairs. Farooque’s efforts at Karachi’s Youthful Offenders Industrial School have also been infectious among the prison staff as well as the Home department of the Sindh Assembly.

“We started with the Jugnu (Firefly) program, where the inmates learn to read and write Urdu in three months’ time, as most of them are there for a very short period of time for small crimes such as mobile snatching,” explains Farooque. “The Home Department was extremely cooperative in helping me set this program up.”

In fact, the juvenile facility has taken the initiative to arrange classes in Urdu, mathematics, Islamic studies, vocational tailor training, and even boasts a computer lab. Farooque, however, feels the classes are not meeting all the juveniles’ needs, especially since the teachers employed lack initiative. “If [the teachers] get a salary, then [the prison authorities] should get a dedicated staff and we can supervise them. But those teachers are getting paid every month and they come and give their attendance and just sit there.” Moreover, the inmates are distracted from their studies because they have to wash clothes and cook for more than 2,000 people, including the women’s prison, the prison staff, and themselves.

The motivational talks thus evolved from the shortfalls of the prison’s teaching initiative, as Farooque wanted to help youngsters overcome the “black spot” in their lives – their period of incarceration. “I told them let us move forward so that you can become a good citizen – let us remember that you did something wrong and you don’t want to repeat it.”

Farooque discusses an array of topics with the young inmates, from a young man’s responsibility to his parents, to how to behave with women and even more sensitive topics such as jihad and suicide bombing. “They started understanding me and they started waiting for me,” Farooque says.

In one motivational class, Farooque touches on a sore subject: narcotics use. Eighteen-year-old Khalid from Malir is a drug addict who fears being imprisoned again in the future – he knows that if he is detained again it will be at Central Jail because of his age.

Farooque explains that many of the inmates had told her that during court proceedings, the young men could find drugs hidden in the bathrooms, which they would then bring into the prison. As a solution to this practice, she wants a different rehabilitative juvenile prison for inmates with a drug addiction as well as a transitional house for those who do not have a home once they leave the prison system. “I am trying to get funding from all different types of sources, including from the government, to make these arrangements,” says Farooque.

In terms of other facilities, during Eid celebrations, VOTCS donated an estimated 250 packets with clothing for the young inmates. The organisation has also provided cable televisions, water coolers, and catered meals. Currently, they want to develop an option for vocational training in mechanics, carpentry, gardening and cooking, in addition to the tailoring training.

“If we make these kids skilled workers, then they will have something to do. Right now, they don’t have anything to do – when they leave the prison they can go back to their life of crime or start on a different path,” Farooque points out.

In a class of more than 50 juvenile inmates that Farooque teaches, almost 10 had returned for the second time and one inmate had returned for the third time in past six months. “There are no options for them,” she complains. “If we give them options … only good things can happen. These juvenile delinquents are children. Children are the future of Pakistan and they need help more than anybody else.”