Dramatic turnaround for prison inmates
Print Edition
PRACTICE makes perfect for Xu Dongguang as he repeats his lines time after time until he gets them just right. He wants his performance to hit home.
“This is the second time I have acted the leading role in a play,” Xu said. “I put my whole feeling into it.”
The play, “A Letter from Home,” moves most of the audience to tears.
But Xu is no professional actor. He is an inmate at Luquan Prison in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China’s Hebei Province.
As part of the country’s judicial reform efforts, prisons have introduced psychotherapy to help correct behavior and rehabilitate prisoners.
Psychodrama is just one of the therapies being adopted. It differs from traditional psychological interventions, such as counseling and music therapy, in that it can help treat a large group of prisoners all at once.
Through psychodrama, prisoners act out their own stories as a group, helping them understand and examine their emotions.
Luquan Prison held its first psychodrama performance last year.
Xu said he and the other prisoners were mainly interested in psychodramas with a family theme. “Prisoners were so active when participating in the performance,” said Miao Yi, the prison warden.
Prison conditions are changing in China, with mental well-being being paid more consideration.
“Prisoners have paid high attention to their own mental health in recent years,” said Feng Feng, a psychological counselor at the prison. “Psychodramas work well in the prison.”
Feng said that through the practice and performance of psychodramas prisoners are able to review their past experience, learn the truth and create hope for the future.
Cui Chao, a police officer at the prison, liked writing plays when he was a college student and that talent has made him popular in the prison.
“I wrote a story of a prisoner, Zhang Xiaodong, in July. I invited him to perform in the psychodrama but he initially refused,” Cui said. “After the debut of the play, Zhang asked me to allow him to act himself in it next time.”
Sixteen psychodramas have been performed in Luquan Prison this year, with 129 prisoners taking part.
They are paid bonuses for taking part.
Xu, who earned 1,000 yuan (US$148), for his performances, said: “I am glad to share my psychological problems with others with the performance, which can help cure my inner trauma. Sometimes, I think I may have a chance to start all over again.”
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