The Phnom Penh Post
PRISONERS in Pursat province’s Correctional Centre 4 on Tuesday began a vocational training programme aimed at teaching them agricultural skills, prison officials said, as part of a new approach to the Kingdom’s ever-growing inmate population.
Rights groups have long voiced concern that prisoners in Cambodia are subject to abuse bordering on torture, chronic overcrowding and other hardships. Government officials say the agricultural programme at CC4 is part of a broader effort to implement needed reforms and give prisoners marketable skills that might reduce their risk of recidivism upon release.
Hin Sophal, the chief of CC4, said the centre would eventually house about 2,500 prisoners on 846 hectares of land. The facility’s first 66 prisoners began arriving in November of last year, and on Tuesday they began ploughing about 12 hectares of land around their housing blocks.
Rights groups have long voiced concern that prisoners in Cambodia are subject to abuse bordering on torture, chronic overcrowding and other hardships. Government officials say the agricultural programme at CC4 is part of a broader effort to implement needed reforms and give prisoners marketable skills that might reduce their risk of recidivism upon release.
Hin Sophal, the chief of CC4, said the centre would eventually house about 2,500 prisoners on 846 hectares of land. The facility’s first 66 prisoners began arriving in November of last year, and on Tuesday they began ploughing about 12 hectares of land around their housing blocks.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE
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