Duhok prisoners become published authors with new correctional initiative

DUHOK, Kurdistan Region — Correctional authorities in the Kurdistan Region’s western city of Duhok have begun an initiative to publish books written and translated by local prisoners.

“Reading books has changed all of my life,” said a prisoner serving ten years at Duhok’s adult reform directorate for attempted murder. Preferring to stay anonymous due to the stigma of incarceration, he says he has read 150 books and written two during his jail term.

Having put together inspirational quotes from notable figures for his first book, the man says his life may have turned out differently if he had read his book earlier in life. 

“Honestly, if I read this book before, I would not have committed a crime,” he claimed, saying he had little interest in books prior to his incarceration.

Books have become his closest friends, he says, serving time at a facility with a library made up of 5,000 books. 

Out of the ten books the directorate has published, six have been translations by prisoners from Arabic and English. Four of them have been written by the jailed themselves.

Most of the material’s content relates to social issues.

SB: We got the idea to print books. We searched among the prisoners who have prepared and translated several books from Arabic and English to the Kurdish language. 

“We started the project and selected ten books. We have worked on them for nearly one year and published them today,” Irfan Mohammed Amin, the head of media at Zirka reform, told Rudaw.

Sponsored by a private library, the initiative is a trial for ambitious future plans at the reform directorate, which seeks to release prisoners with tangible skills for a new life.