The Senate President, Sen. David Mark, on Wednesday, called on the Nigeria Prisons Service to turn the prisons into places of reformation rather than centres for punishment.
?Mark made the call in a keynote address at the International Prayer Breakfast session organised by the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Abuja.
?The senate president, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Governmental Affairs, Mr Ade Nguhar, said that restoring the reformative role of the prison would make the inmates economically independent after serving their jail terms.
He said that achieving economic independence by the inmates would reduce crime in the society.
Mark noted that some of the inmates were involved in criminal activities due to poverty.
?“The bottom line for many individuals is that they are caught in poverty trap and do not have enough money to provide for their needs. They, therefore, resort to criminal activities to satisfy these needs.
?“To enable an individual to achieve economic independence, we need to ensure that they have necessary skills to do so.
?“Therefore, punishment given to individuals as a result of their committing an offence need to address the skill shortages of the person in question so that, upon completion of jail term, their chances of actively participating in the workforce and community at large are increased.
?“About 98 per cent of the over 50,000 inmates in our prisons are young and able bodied men and women.
?“Here the relevance and critical role of organisations like prison fellowship come into high relief.? Those in prisons are our brothers and sisters, we must help them. Our prisons must be places of reformation and not just punishment centres.’’?
The senate president, however, urged Nigerian to have a change of attitude toward ex-prisoners, to enable their proper integration in the society.
?“No amount of reform or rehabilitation will work, if we do not stop stigmatising and discriminating against them.
?“The public hostile attitude to ex-prisoners largely accounts for the high rate of recidivism; they come out of the prison, the public rejects, stigmatise and ostracise them to their old friends and crime. We all suffer from the vicious circle, let us break it!
?“As a nation, we must all join hands in love, compassion for the vulnerable. If we espouse these virtues both government and the governed, we shall get to the Nigeria of our dream. ’’
Mark assured that the National Assembly was committed to criminal justice reform initiatives of the present administration, adding that necessary infrastructure would be provided in the prisons to help in the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.
?“I think the National Assembly can even go further by making enabling laws or amending exiting ones that will improve the condition of our inmates. ’’
?He also pledged the support of the National Assembly to complement the efforts of PFN’s specific programmes and projects aimed at fast tracking the rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates and ex-prisoners into productive lives.
?Earlier, the Executive Director of the fellowship, Benson Iwuagwu, said the programme was organised to sensitise the political and church leaders to the need to address the plight of ex-prisoners.
“If we continue the way we are, they come out of the prisons, no meaningful integration package for them is injurious to our collective society.’’
?Iwuagwu said that extending love and affection to the inmates would improve security and safety in the country.
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