GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Rehabilitation and re-entry support centers in the Gaza Strip house hundreds of prisoners who are incarcerated for crimes and violations of the law. Based on the idea that imprisonment is aimed to reform and rehabilitate and not punish, these centers seek to implement educational and employment programs during the prisoners’ stay in prison.

In this context, the Reform and Rehabilitation Center in Deir al-Balah governorate inaugurated Fateh Bakery on May 18, in collaboration with the Edmaj Aftercare Center. On Jan. 6, the Reform and Rehabilitation Center opened as part of its Productive Inmate project, which aims to employ inmates and includes a sewing factory and a handcraft workshop.

The director of the sewing factory, inmate Abu Akram (a pseudonym), told Al-Monitor, “Before being imprisoned I owned a sewing factory in eastern Gaza City, and this is why the administration decided to assign me as the official in charge of this factory. They asked me to train other inmates in sewing, who currently number 15."

He said, “My experience was limited to the field of ready-to-wear clothes. Israeli traders would place an order and send me a model [to work on], and I would send them back [the clothes they had ordered] to be sold in Israel. Now I can design and make custom-made clothes.”