Al-Riyadh WHY doesn't the private sector have an essential role in rehabilitating prisoners by providing them with training and education? For example, SABIC can take a group of prisoners after putting them through a series of tests to identify their skills. The company can re-qualify them to work in its factories or the industrial sector. I understand that they might not be as good as the engineers or have the capacity to produce great work. But if SABIC can train and qualify prisoners to work and be effective and productive members of the society, Aramco and many other companies in the Kingdom could also be of help. Why doesn't the government educate and train them? Why can't the private sector contributes to this issue with genuine interest? With training, education and good salaries, companies would be providing social services, educate and train disadvantaged members of the community and turn them into positive productive individuals. I read about success stories in Germany with companies like Porches and Mercedes and BMW and it is not a new idea. It is an idea that needs forming and studying and real application. The more people are busy the less problems and sicknesses they suffer from. Very few people who are busy with their life find time to complain and that is the normal routine. We find many young male and female prisoners, and they are the majority, and they must work. Even foreign prisoners must work productively and effectively to earn a living and to realize that imprisonment is, in fact, "rehabilitation" intellectually and practically. We are talking about the ones with capabilities and able to work and especially the young ones who are in desperate need for this. They might see that prison is the end and with such mechanism it might be a real beginning to a new and better life. I wish that the private sector could embark on this venture and allow this opportunity of training prisoners to find real industrial jobs because this line of work doesn't need a lot of certificates. With time, their lives will change for the better for sure. Even if we managed to recruit 20 or 30 percent of them, it is still considered a positive step better than leaving prison without any productivity, or work or income.
