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Bang Kwang inmates find
comfort
in cats' company
Inmates at a Thai prison are finding comfort in the company of cats. The
felines are said to have significantly improved the inmates’
psychological wellbeing. A special report by the Thai News Agency
has more.
With the seriousness of their crimes, inmates in Bang
Kwang Prison have little hope of finishing their jail terms before 30
years and, in many cases, it’s lifetime imprisonment. Faced with such an
‘eternity’, most of their relatives stop visiting.
These inmates find comfort in the cats which have always been around at
the prison, even before it was built.
Many attempts have been tried to take the cats away, but within a few
days, they mysteriously return. So the officials now let them be and
they happily scatter around the prison.The feline population numbers as
700.
A warder at Bang Kwang Prison said “They’ve always been around with us
and prove to be amazingly comforting to the inmates. With these cats
around, inmates with brutal crimes such as murder have reduced much of
their aggression and become gentler. Some spare their food for their cat
friends. Some even buy them canned fish.”
Not only do the cats provide psychological benefit to the prisoners, the
prison itself is kept free of rats. The Correction Department recognises
these benefits and allows the inmates’ feline friends to stay on, but on
the condition their population is kept under control by means of proper
sterilization and the inmates don’t bring them to bed. Many inmates pick
one or two of the cats to be their favourite friends, especially a group
of former gunmen who are less sociable. They prefer being with friends
who do not speak, but listen.
Inmate, a former gunman said “When I first arrived here, I was very
edgy, so full of worries and bad tempers rushing in and out. But when I
began raising and playing with these cats, my mind grew calmer.”
The friendship between the inmates and their cats makes each day in Bang
Kwang Prison much more bearable and not so desolate. It’s another
example of animals wonderously helping man to feel more like a human
once again.
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Photo: TNA |
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