May 4: Cricketers stressed out after the Caribbean experience are not the only ones falling back on yoga to calm their nerves.

Crammed into a prison that can accommodate only 58 people, the 139 inmates of Hailakandi District Jail are turning to yoga to make their dreary lives easier. At last count, 22 prisoners had joined the yoga training course being offered on the jail premises.

Jayanta Kumar Nath, a jail employee, has taken the responsibility of training the inmates. Convinced of the feel-good effects of yoga, some employees of the jail have also begun attending Nath’s yoga sessions to shed the extra flab and keep their bodies in ship shape. As many as 77 of the jail inmates are serving life terms. There are three women prisoners, too.

“Nobody is a born criminal. A person who commits a crime is a victim of circumstances. Yoga and pranayam have a therapeutic effect as they minimise the criminal mindset of these people and bring them back to the mainstream,” said Nath.

He said the inmates had hardly any physical activities as there was acute shortage of space inside the jail. “That is why they need exercise.”

Nath said the initial aim was to improve the health of the jail inmates and provide them relief from pressure and frustration.

The inmates minutely watch the yoga programmes on television inside the jail and religiously practise what they are taught.

He said his efforts had borne fruit as yoga sessions have led to their mental and spiritual uplift and also boosted their morale to a great extent.

Nath received training at Silchar National Yoga School and began teaching yoga to the inmates after receiving permission from a top prison official.

Jail superintendent Dipak Bhuiya said deputy commissioner of Hailakandi Sankar Prasad Kakati Bora was very keen to introduce yoga for the jail inmates and the move had been appreciated by everybody.

Bora, superintendent of police Anand Kumar Tewari and excise and border areas development minister Gautam Roy had recently visited the jail and lauded his efforts.

They encouraged Nath to continue his training sessions to boost the morale of the inmates.

Nath said he would like the learners to participate at the state-level yogasan competition if he managed to obtain permission from the authorities.

Convict Bibhu Das said he would continue yoga even after his release and teach it to people in his neighbourhood.

Another prisoner, Rathindra Chakraborty, who was a priest by profession, said he was less tense ever since he began practising yoga and performing puja inside the jail premises.