When I set off to visit Nyarugenge Correctional facility, commonly known as 1930, several questions lingered in my mind. How is life in a place where people are put under lock and key with 24-hour surveillance? What is the situation of a woman as a convict? And why would a woman end up incarcerated?

As I was still pondering, the short journey was cut short- the taxi moto guy halted his bike at the entrance of the prison located a stone throw from the Kigali business central district.

I entered through the prison gate after signing in the visitor’s book. Surprisingly, I was welcomed by a serene environment far from what I expected to encounter.

The huge compound was bustling with activity. With well shaven heads and clean uniform, every inmate seemed busy.

The inmates chatted away and cracked jokes like life were normal, none was handcuffed or being followed around with a whip.

As I strolled through the compound, dancing troupes, carpenters, weavers and tailors went about their work normally. An exchange of pleasantries between prisoners and prison officials caught my eye every now and then.

Josephine Nikuze has been at the prison for eighteen years now and has only one year left before she can be let out of the prison gate.

She prides herself in the fact that her country still sees them as a vital part of the community by not giving up on them.

"We feel that we are still a part of our country and still children of Rwanda. A person feels like they can start up a new life easily after here. I can assure you, even those outside these walls will get to see that we were not just tied in one place but rather doing something because our country doesn’t imprison but it corrects,” Nikuze says.

"Since I was imprisoned in 1996, I have engaged in different activities and this has helped me. Together with other female inmates, we make products, which we sell and retain 70% of the proceeds. We access sugar, Vaseline or even clothes. In the end, we are playing our part in supporting the progress of our community,” she says

Nikuze says that the inmates are divided into groups depending on the items they make such as bed sheets, table cloths, table mats, trays, jewelry boxes and hand bags among others.

69-year-old Pascazia Nyirategekimana has served nine years of her thirty year sentence. She barely notices someone approaching as she is consumed with knitting. She says the activities like weaving have helped her get a peace of mind.

"Weaving helps us take our minds off the years we have spent and those that are yet to come just in this one place. I am old now so working helps me to keep occupied. I don’t get lonely because I have good company from other inmates and this has helped most of us from drowning in self-pity,” Nyirategekimana says.

Like Nyirategekimana and Nikuze most of the female convicts share a similar story. Women convicts make up 25 percent of the convicts at Nyarugenge prison.

Superintendent James Mugisha is the director of the facility. He says that the facility is a correctional center not a prison. This is the reason why from strangers view, life inside the prison is as normal as for any other community of people.

"We aim at correcting people, they made mistakes and therefore we strive to help them reform so that they get to go back to society when they are changed people,” he says.

Mugisha notes that the facility focuses on equipping the convicts with various skills as opposed to locking them up in cells all day long so that they get to put their time to good use.

That also helps them to find a stepping stone for their new start when they finish serving their time. It’s compulsory for every inmate to participate in various activities. Even the old are encouraged to at least engage in religious studies.

"We have pillars as Rwanda Correctional Service and they include justice, correction, knowledge and production.

It is a process and since most of them are imprisoned for years we find ways of occupying them,” Mugisha says.

Every inmate chooses what to do because there are several different activities within the prison.

For those people who do not know how to read and write; teachers are available to provide them with formal education, knowledge and skills and for those who had reached secondary or university, they actually continue with their education, explains Mugisha.

Over fifty languages are taught such as Chinese, German, Swahili, English and many others and at the end of a particular course, a certificate is awarded.

Mugisha says that bible classes are the best when it comes to correcting convicts.

"Most of the inmates actually love being a part of these classes and being there gives them ample time to read and immerse themselves in the word of God,” he says

Apart from formal education, the inmates are given an opportunity to gain technical skills. They are taught weaving, tailoring, plumbing, carpentry among others, which is a constructive way of occupying and putting to use the time they have since many of them were sentenced for over twenty years.

"The way we handle convicts is unique because there are two things; one is to make prisoners active because when you keep somebody idle for such a long time, what kind of person do you expect them to be after two or five years? Secondly, these activities bring the inmates closer and this helps in preventing instances of conflict and on the other hand changing them for the better,” he said

The inmates also benefit as women are given 70% of proceeds from sales of products they make while men get 10% since they are involved in more profitable activities like construction.

The money is kept on the inmate’s account and it is only withdrawn when they need something which helps them not to rely on their families outside.

Others even save enough to actually help their families. The remaining percentages go towards national development activities.

The inmates have not lost hope and believe that they have transformed into better people because the center as they prefer to call it, did not imprison them but is rather correcting them.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw