Kerobokan Prison, Bali's largest correctional facility, has adopted a new approach to curing drug inmates of their addictions.

"We ask them to participate in various artistic pursuits, such as dancing and playing musical instruments. It's a sort of art therapy," prison warden Ilham Djaya told The Jakarta Post here Monday.

The art therapy was first introduced about a year ago and has had promising results. The prison authority carries out the art therapy in tandem with methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), in which the inmates receive a prescribed dosage of methadone to offset the withdrawal symptoms caused by their addiction.

The prison is a site of an MMT pilot project.

"As well as undergoing MMT, the inmates participate in art workshops, where they learn gamelan (Balinese traditional musical ensemble) and the kecak dance," he said.

Both gamelan and kecak require a high degree of teamwork and cooperation among the performers. Developing such traits among the inmates is expected to improve their relationships with each other and to develop their social skills.

"Through this art therapy we have succeeded in encouraging the inmates to be more active and to socialize with their fellow inmates," Ilham said.

"It is less difficult to organize the inmates now, and a large number of them have managed to overcome their addiction."

One inmate, Syamsul, 39, said the art therapy had changed the way he spent his time behind bars as well as the way he interacted with other prisoners.

"I used to spend most of my days devising ways to get putaw (the street name for low-grade heroin)," he said.

After undergoing MMT and art therapy, Syamsul found his craving for the illegal drug had gradually subsided.

"Now I can focus my mind on doing something more useful than searching for a quick narcotic fix," he said.

He said other inmates had also experienced similar improvements.

"They used to be a bunch of self-absorbed and hard to control people. The addiction made them like that. Art therapy has taught them how to cooperate and listen to each other," he said.

Drug addicts, Syamsul said, longed for other people's attention and appreciation. However, the addiction inhibited their ability to think and act logically and rationally, thus destroying their chances of establishing mutually respectful relationships with others.

"We came up with the idea of disciplining them through music because we know if we use violence to discipline them they will revolt," Ilham said.

He said initially it was not easy to ask the prisoners to perform because of their lack of confidence, especially those who suffered from the worst addictions.

However, following quite long and intense conversations, officers could help them build their confidence.

The art therapy did not cost much, and the activities are monitored by no more than five officers.

Ilham said it was difficult to measure the success of the method in preventing inmates from relapsing, because there was no certain standard for that.

"How can we know they will not use drugs anymore once they are freed from these facilities? It depends on so many factors," he said.

"But at least we can see since the art therapy was introduced, the participating inmates have gradually reduced their methadone dosages."

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