The idea of spending Christmas behind bars must be depressing. You would think that it would make a Grinch out of any holiday enthusiast, but the men at Camp Street who are actually on ‘lock down’ appear to be a different lot.

In a television special that was aired on December 25 on the National Communication Network (NCN), a bunch of incarcerated Christmas revellers rocked the prisons along with prison authorities and officials. If NCN had not identified the programme it would have been hard to place the activity at the jail.

Probably bored from the routine activities at the Camp Street and eager to do something that reminded them of the time before their imprisonment the feisty group truly embraced the Christmas activity and held nothing back. They sang and danced the afternoon away like free men with not a care in the world.

It is likely that every man in the room that afternoon thought of a loved one or a friend as they made merry but somehow it seemed more personal, in that, every man just wanted to enjoy the day for himself and perhaps feel normal again.

Locked away in a prison cell that is no bigger than the bathroom in the average home for the most part of the day with very little to do can get to someone particularly if you are in for a long time. After a certain time some sense of normalcy is lost.

True, these are men who deviated from society’s norms, who broke the rules and are paying the price of having lost their freedom. And the special that was aired gave us a rare chance to see them in a somewhat normal setting. The broad smiles on their faces gave hope that rehabilitation would make a difference.

A dreadlocked guy who belted out “Old toy trains, little toy trucks, little toy drums