Family members stigmatising ex prisoners, FCT Controller laments

The Controller of Corrections, FCT Command, Mustapha Illiyasu Atta, has decried the high level of stigmatisation of discharged inmates by their loved ones.

Chukwuedo Humphrey, the Public Relations Officer of Nigerian Correctional Service, FCT Command, disclosed in a statement that Controller Atta made this outcry during the graduation and certification of fifteen(15) inmates of the Dukpa Model Farm Centre, Gwagwalada, Abuja.

According to the statement, the graduating students excelled in academics and industry during the three months pilot training on computer appreciation, sewing and barbing conducted by Kingsqueen Foundation, Nigeria for inmates of custodial centres within the FCT command.

Atta added that stigmatising any inmate who has been certified by the correctional service to be of good conduct and industry is counter productive and could breed recidivism.

He maintained that since the society had vested on the service and her officers the powers to reform these inmates, it should be given benefit that it can deliver on its mandate.

Atta further disclosed that the inmates had undergone high level reformation processes and should be given equal opportunity for social engagements by their loved ones and the society in general in order for them not to go back to crime.

He added that the Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Service, Ahmed Jaafaru, had encouraged all Controllers of Corrections to operate an open door policy and to relentlessly engage all agencies in ensuring that one of the core mandates of the service, which is the reformation of the inmates, is achieved.

He thanked kingsqueen foundation, Nigeria for the initiative and encouraged other non governmental organisations and multinationals to extend their social responsibility to the inmates in order to build a sane and safe society.