While serving his prison sentence, Mensur Šehić became a successful woodcarver

When Mensur Šehić (33) from Visoko was sentenced to a long prison term, he was only 24 years old, with minimal formal education.

Nine years later, he is still in the Zenica Correctional Facility, but his outlook on life is completely different.

Šehić has become a successful woodcarver: he makes sugar bowls, ashtrays, tables and chairs whose market value reaches several hundred marks. He says that before his prison sentence, he had no idea he could become a wood artist.

- In life, you sometimes do things you shouldn't have done – said Šehić for the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

- But, it is important that a person realizes they made a mistake, and starts turning to positive values in life. Thank God I realized that too. I decided to use the time I spend here in the right way. I became interested in wood, and very quickly I perfected a craft I want to pursue even when I am released – says Šehić.

In the prison workshop, he has all the necessary tools for making wooden items, but he is worried about how he will obtain supplies once he is released.

- I managed to gather some smaller tools, and I hope I will be able to secure larger machines as well – says Šehić.

Hidajet Jabandžić, director of the Zenica Correctional Facility, told NAP that Šehić is not the only case of successful prisoner rehabilitation.

- There are people who, for example, never picked up a paintbrush, but in prison they discovered they can paint, and now they create works that are very interesting and high-quality – says Jabandžić, adding that prisoners are largely interested in the programs the facility offers.

- As part of work and occupational therapy, we even have primary and secondary school. The diplomas prisoners earn at the facility are completely valid. They don't even indicate that they were in prison – says Jabandžić.