A compassionate policy

A working group of the Library Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently made a visit to the Ngoc Ly Detention Center in Tan Yen District, Bac Giang Province and presented books to soldiers and prisoners there.

Inmates at Ngoc Ly detention center read books.

Dr. Vu Duong Thuy Nga - Director of the Library Department - said that the books presented to the detention center were selected very carefully to help improve prisoners’ social, cultural awareness, their sense of law observance, disciplined obedience, virtue, and life skills. Through these books, inmates can build their own lifestyles, learn lessons, build energy, amend their way during the time of serving sentences and form belief in life and the future when they return to their family and society.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Lai, Deputy Director of the Ngoc Ly prison, informed about the results achieved in building and promoting the effectiveness of libraries, bookcases for officers, soldiers and prisoners of Ngoc Ly prison: Through the development of reading culture in prisons, compulsory educational establishments, reformatory schools, inmates and subjects of education have been sensitized, educated, and their social-cultural awareness has been improved. They have developed their own lifestyles, learned lessons, amended their way during the time of serving sentences and formed belief in life and the future when they return to their family and society.

Attending the book-giving ceremony, Venerable Dhammananda Thero Thich Phuoc Ngoc, International Special Envoy at the Committee for Buddhist commendation of the Government of Sri Lanka, and Chairman of the Isuru Sevana Child Development Fund said: “We highly appreciate the attention of the Party and State of Vietnam, especially the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Public Security to organize activities, create opportunities and conditions to improve the spiritual life of prisoners, especially the sensitization by educational activities, helping prisoners to change their perception by learning through books.

The female inmates at Ngoc Ly detention center read books at the new library.

This is a very compassionate and respectful policy. We are very grateful for what relevant agencies of Bac Giang province and the supervisors and prison guards of Ngoc Ly prison have given to prisoners.

According to the Venerable, paying visit and giving encouragement to inmates is one of the most important volunteer activities, because that is the way to cultivate the germ of goodness. The fact has proven that converting and making changes in awareness is the best way of education. It will awaken the germ of goodness which is inherent and latent in each human being.
Ngoc Ly is one of the first prisons that established bookcases for prisoners

Dr. Vu Duong Thuy Nga, Director of the Library Department said: "Ngoc Ly is one of the first prisons that built bookcases for prisoners, which also has the highest number of books and the highest number of inmates reading books in the country.”

Library for inmates at Prison No. 3, Police Department for managing prisons, compulsory educational institutions, reformatory schools, Ministry of Public Security (Tan Ky district, Nghe An province)

"I hope that the supervisors, officers and soldiers here will continue to promote and create favorable conditions for inmates to read books at the library and in detention cells", Nga said.

“It is necessary to mobilize community contribution to develop more bookcases of this kind, and at the same time to organize activities for prisoners to read and share good books, the books that change their lives and enable them to turn the process of transformation into a process of self-cultivation and practice. Each book will be a door, a key to help readers find the way to goodness, actively improve themselves, and cultivate themselves to return to family and community soon.

It is hoped that the books with the seeds of the soul, the life skills, especially the books about human religion, Buddhism and compassion will be disseminated and read by many inmates, thereby helping shorten the path of re-education, the remuneration of prisoners. No matter what mistakes are made, enlightenment is never too late. Reading books of knowledge and love and contemplating through your own failures will be the shortest path to enlightenment. Each book we bring here carries the messages of love, light of enlightenment and courageous compassion to the prisoners,” she said.

Hong Huong