The Prison Symphony

In a project extending Venezuela8217;s renowned system of youth orchestras to some of the country8217;s most hardened prisons, Ms Ahmad and hundreds of other prisoners are learning a repertory that includes Beethoven8217;s Ninth Symphony and Venezuelan folk songs.

The budding musicians include murderers, kidnappers, thieves and, here at the women8217;s prison, dozens of narcomulas, or drug mules, as small-scale drug smugglers are called.

8220;This is our attempt to achieve the humanization of prison life,8221; said Kleiberth Lenin Mora, 32, a lawyer who helped create the prison orchestras. 8220;We start with the simple idea that performing music lifts the human being to another level.8221;

Few nations have prison systems as much in need of humanizing as Venezuela, where 498 inmates out of a total population of 21,201 were killed in 2007, according to the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a group that monitors prison violence.

The women8217;s prison, the scene of gang fights and hunger strikes by inmates in recent months, is not immune to this violence. But it is not all bleak. Inmates have free access to the Internet. They can use cellphones. A commissary sells soft drinks and junk food.

And now INOF pronounced like the word 8220;enough8221;, the acronym the prison is known by in Spanish, has its orchestra. The 40 or so inmates who have joined find themselves enmeshed in an experience that was unexpected in their lives in or outside prison.

8220;Before this my music was reggaetoacute;n,8221; said Irma Gonzaacute;lez, 29, serving a six-year sentence for robbery. Now she plays the double bass. Her proudest moment came when her four children, ages 14, 13, 10 and 9, recently came here to watch her play.

8220;When they applauded me, I finally felt useful in this life,8221; said Ms Gonzaacute;lez. Like other participants, she hopes to reduce her term by playing in the orchestra, which judges may consider the equivalent of hours of study.

For now, the project, which receives 3 million in funding from President Hugo Chaacute;vez8217;s government and the Inter-American Development Bank, takes baby steps. It staged its first public performance last month in Caracas. And it insists its participants hew to a few specific rules.

For instance, no one can threaten the professors. Everyone must speak clearly during discussions in the daily practice sessions. Everyone must stand up straight and take care of his or her instrument. Smoking and chewing tobacco are not allowed.

The orchestra at INOF is one of the most cosmopolitan in Venezuela. Many of the inmates are foreigners arrested on drug-smuggling charges. Women from Colombia, Spain, Malaysia and the Netherlands play instruments or sing in the chorus alongside Venezuelans.

8220;I drain away my bad thoughts in the orchestra,8221; said Joanny Aldana, 29, a viola player serving a nine-year sentence for kidnapping and auto theft. Like some of the other inmates, she is imprisoned here with her child, a 2-year-old daughter. 8220;There8217;s the pain of my children, of having destroyed my life, my youth,8221; Ms. Aldana said.

Perhaps no amount of music can make up for such loss. Perhaps that explains the fervour with which some of the women play their instruments or sing. It is not uncommon to see one of them shedding a tear when a certain note is struck.

For Yusveisy Torrealba, 18, that moment comes when the chorus sings a few words from Caramba, a Venezuelan folk song performed with a four-string guitar. Ms Torrealba was caught with cocaine on a flight to the US.

In her soft voice, she sang these lines for a visitor one recent afternoon:

Caramba, my love, caramba

The things we have missed

The gossip I could only hear

Between the rocks of the river.

8220;Caramba,8221; she repeated quietly, as if contemplating how much time remained in an eight-year sentence that began last month. 8220;The only thing keeping me together is this music.8221;