At least for two hours on Tuesday, the prisoners in Kozhikode District Jail must have felt like being in a festival celebration. Such was the exuberance created by the maiden performance of ‘1862 AD’, the prison music band that was launched by writer Subhash Chandran.
The prison music band was envisaged by Assistant Superintendent of the Jail D. Sunny, who is also an Akashvani artiste.
Around 14 members of the prison staff including Assistant Prison Officers Jinesh Baby and Prasad along with some female staff were the lead singers of the band while a few prisoners too took part.
The launch of the band coincided with the Prison Welfare Day celebrations on Tuesday.
The band has been named ‘1862 AD’ after the year the jail was founded. The Kozhikode District Jail is the oldest one in the State.
“We intended to break the ice and that was what happened. The prisoners took the band to the heart and enjoyed every moment of the show,” said jail superintendent Anil Kumar, known for various innovative programmes that have changed the image of the district jail.
The launch was an experiment which turned successful. Now the authorities are planning to take the band to the nearby jails as a stress relief measure for the staff as well as the prisoners. The first performance was made using karoke music. But there are plans to incorporate musical instruments in the future, the superintendent said.