GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In mid-October, a number of Palestinian inmates in the main correctional and rehabilitation center in western Gaza City embarked on a project to handwrite the holy Quran using Uthmanic calligraphy. The project came in an effort by the inmates to expiate their guilt in the hopes of obtaining privileges inside prison and having their sentences reduced.

Nine inmates, who took Uthmanic calligraphy courses, joined the project, which is sponsored by Dar Al-Quran and Sunnah in Gaza City. Those in charge of the project expect the project to be finished by the end of the year.

Handwriting the Quran is one of the projects carried out by the correctional and rehabilitation centers in the Gaza Strip, to alter inmate behavior and prompt them to benefit from their time in prison. As a result, the correctional and rehabilitation centers free many inmates for good conduct after they have served two-thirds of their prison sentences.

Massoud Abu Ras, the director of the division of religious preaching and guidance at the correctional and rehabilitation centers in the Gaza Strip and supervisor of the project, told Al-Monitor, "The idea came after a series of programs were carried out [and] after they were highly welcomed by the inmates in recent months. Some inmates joined the literacy programs, others pursued their university studies or joined courses to recite the Quran that were behind the launch of this program."