CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Bursts of birdsong cut sweetly across the harsh prison noises as heavily tattooed, gold-toothed murderer Bernard Mitchell nuzzles the five-week old parrot with motherly kisses.

"They think I'm their mom. They're almost like children," said the 41-year-old after gently blowing on warm porridge to feed the chick.

With a heated brooder box and cage in his cell, Mitchell is part of a project that has transformed inmates at a tough South African prison by giving them vulnerable chicks to hand rear.

"They touch you," said Mitchell.

"I didn't have this kind of gentleness. I was a very aggressive person before, I was involved in a lot of stabbings, a lot of things. I had a very bad reputation in prison."

"The birds have taught me to have patience. I cannot be aggressive with the birds also. I have to love them, I have to care for them, I have to feed them. Everything."

The former high-ranking prison gangster, who was first jailed at age 14, is chairperson of the project in a dedicated wing where orange-uniformed inmates tend to their charges surrounded by bright tropical wall paintings.

Housed in Pollsmoor prison's male lock-up, each chick's weight is checked and recorded daily and fed up to every two hours until it is fully feathered and sold as a tame pet to bird lovers on the outside.

The project was started in 1997 by senior prison official Wikus Gresse who believed that animals had the power to reform even the toughest criminals.

"You can be a murderer. You can have done dangerous things. My criteria is you must show over a period in prison you can behave and you want to better your life," he said.

"The bird is something for bigger purposes."

A self-financed success, it fields constant requests from prisoners wanting to join.

Sales are used to buy new chicks, which can cost as much as 1,500 rands ($217) for an African Grey fledgling, with a share going to the inmates.

Places are limited to around a dozen prisoners who undergo training and must adhere to a ban on "gangsterism", smoking and drugs. Even swearing is frowned upon.

In return, the bird men learn skills like holding meetings and are given privileges like single cells - a 6.25-square-meter space usually shared with two others due to overcrowding.

Stroking the stomach of a Senegal Parrot lying blissfully on its back in his hand, Lento Kindo said it was difficult letting go when the birds went to new owners.

"It feels very heartbreaking," said the 31-year-old serving five years for robbery.

"It's almost like you're giving your babies away to someone else."

Agence France-Presse