The Controller General of Nigerian Prisons, Mr? Zakari Ohinoyi, on Thursday criticised the discriminatory acts against ex-convicts in the country.
Ohinoyi said this at the Imo Prisons Inmates Day, tagged “The Forgotten People'', which the Nigerian Prison Service jointly organised with the International Prison Chaplain Association of Nigeria (IPCA).
Represented by his deputy Mr Hassan Labo, the controller said discriminating against ex-convicts negated the reformation reason for their incarceration.
“The aim of jailing these people is to reform them, after which they are released back into the society to continue their lives as law abiding citizens.
“When society shuns them and people refuse to employ them because of the stigma of having once been in jail, they turn back to crime and the vicious cycle continues.
“This sabotages our efforts at reforming these prisoners,” he said, while urging the people to assist the prisons service to improve the welfare of inmates.
On congestion in prisons, the he said that some of the inmates had remained in detention because of their inability to pay fines.
“Some of the inmates languishing in these prisons are here because they cannot afford to take the option of fine, which may even be as little as N10,000.
“Those cases should be looked into so that these people can be released and the prisons decongested.’’
Ohinoyi presented sewing machines, irons, hair dryers, generators, carpentry and masonry equipment, to some former inmates to enable them to start up businesses.
The Imo Controller of Prisons, Mr Greg Adimfono, also called for the rehabilitation of remand homes for underage offenders.
He said this would help in their reformation as having them in the same facilities with hardened offenders would influence them negatively.
The Commandant-General of IPCA, Rev. Amaeze Ogbonna, said the association would start a rehabilitation programme to teach skills to former inmates.
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