Help ex-prisoners be valuable assets in society
ACADEMIC Eka Kavtiashvili (2005), in his research on socialisation of exprisoners, points out that experience across the world has shown that to promote and guarantee public’s safety, governments should adopt policies and practices that facilitate the successful reintegration of ex-prisoners into society.
The writer says it is prudent that governments and members of the community make sure that people who have been released from prison have a second chance to establish themselves in “law-abiding lives with the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship.”
“Each person should be judged on his or her merits and not on stereotypes, prejudice, or stigma. People must be encouraged in both symbolic and practical ways to become valuable assets to the community. This means removing unreasonable barriers and roadblocks, making it possible for (people) with criminal records to rejoin the community, support themselves and their families, pay their taxes and contribute to the public good.”
What governments, civil society and members of the public should bear in mind is that the majority of ex-prisoners have no source of livelihood to fall back on after release from prison, and without help from family members, community and civic organisations, ex-inmates have a strong incentive to commit crimes to survive, and an increased chance of ending up in psychiatric wards or even committing suicide due to increased stress levels as they ponder how to make ends meet.
President Mugabe recently pardoned about 2 000 prisoners across the country incarcerated for various offences, and it is therefore important that society is reminded of its role in welcoming back such people, and helping them to settle down with their families and other members of the community, so that they become better citizens who can contribute to the good of our country.
The President pardoned male prisons under the age of 18 regardless of offences committed, and those over the age of 60, who had served two-thirds of their prison terms and all inmates in open prison.
Terminally-ill prisoners, who were unlikely to survive their prison terms, were fully pardoned regardless of offences.
The exercise also saw a huge number of female prisons pardoned. However, male inmates convicted of murder, rape and armed robbery were not part of those pardoned.