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Paul Omokuvie, Bauchi
Comptroller of Bauchi State Command, Nigerian Correctional Service, Sulieman Sulieman, has decried the stigmatisation of ex-convicts, saying the trend was a challenge to efforts to reintegrate former inmates into the society.
Suleiman, in an interveiw with Daily Sun, yesterday, demanded an end to the stigmatisation of persons who had been rehabilitated at correction centers.
“People will go out of prisons and are not accepted by society. No one should place a stigma on ex-convicts because that is the major problem that we have.
“They are not accepted by the society; not accepted by their immediate families. And once this happens, they become dejected and that pushes them back to commit another crimes.”
Suleiman said some of the ex-convicts when rejected by the society and families are forced to come back to correctional facilities or custodian centres for accommodation, food, and medical care.
He, however, expressed the confidence that the change of name from Nigerian Prisons to Correctional Service, would assist change public perception and address the stigmatisation of ex-inmates.
“By the new act, once inmates finished serving their terms, a certificate will be issued to them that they are now of good behavior. And the society will not look down on them; if you have a job you can provide for them, unlike in previous times that we will write ex-convict,” he said.
