An activist lawyer and Director, Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative, Mr. Ahmad Adetola-Kazeem, has identified lack of job opportunities as one of the reasons many prison inmates return to crime after being released.
According to him, except inmates are adequately prepared to be gainfully engaged after prison life, many will always return to crime and find their way back to the prison, compounding the problem of prison congestion in the country.
Adetola-Kazeem said this during the presentation of certificates to 120 inmates and some prison officials at Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos who underwent a three-day skill acquisition, business development and value reorientation workshop organised by PRAI, a non-governmental organisation.
The workshop, which took place between April 18 and 20, 2017, featured practical sessions in which the inmates and prison officials were taught how to make shoes, belts, small chops, produce detergents, disinfectants, among others.
The workshop was divided into three areas — Event Management, which encompassed decoration, ushering and security; Art and Craft; and Production and Catering — with the inmates given the liberty to acquire training in their areas of interest.
Speaking on the rationale behind the initiative, Adetola-Kazeem said, “We have assisted over 100 inmates directly by securing their freedom when they were illegally detained without trial. But the challenge has always been how do you bring them out and make them stay out? That was why we decided to go beyond litigation.
“Sometimes they return to prison after being released by engaging in crime because some of them don’t have hope or means of survival. The actual problem is that they feel they don’t have hope. We believe the training will equip them with skills to survive outside prison and never to return.”
A lawyer, Jamiu Akolade, who spoke to the inmates on the legal requirements for starting a business, said they could come together when they leave the prison to set up a business.
He urged them to register a business name and their products with regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control among others, warning that they could easily find their way back into the prison should they breach the regulations.
“The bank won’t open an account for a company without Corporate Affairs Commission registration.
“You must register all forms of drugs, including disinfectant with NAFDAC. If you don’t do it, it is a criminal offence,” Akolade said.
He added that they must also remember to document their transactions, such as investment terms, and to make sure everything was put into writing.
An entrepreneur, Olasunkanmi Mustapha, urged the inmates to change their mentality and not see themselves as being helpless because they were in prison.
“Be like the popular musician, Akon. See your being in prison as an opportunity to turn your life around for good. Don’t see yourself as inferior to those outside,” he said.
Assistant Controller of Ikoyi Prisons, Mr. Akeem Saliu, said the training was consistent with the reformatory objective of the prison, aimed at preventing situations where inmates return to crime after being released due to lack of job.
Saliu, while commending PRAI for the initiative, said Ikoyi Prisons was open to individuals and organisations who have the capacity to train the inmates in different vocations.
source: punch newspaper
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