09 Feb 2022

 Reintegration of former inmates into society is reportedly a challenge as some end up going back to prison.

Addressing Tutume leadership on Tuesday, Francistown prison officer in charge, Senior Superintendent Moagile Lekene said research showed that communities struggled to accept former inmates.

He said in some instances, even families rejected their own, leading some former inmates to re-commit crimes and go back to prison. 

He said interactions with such inmates indicated that they believed they were better in prison because society failed to accept them.

Senior Superintendent Lekene said three months before an inmate was due to leave prison, they notified the family to prepare them psychologically.

He said in many instances, they received negative feedback from families with some disowning such ex-convicts, adding that in such cases, they engaged social workers and psychologists to counsel families.

He said due to the challenges, they decided to engage with community leaders across the country to sensitise them on the importance of reintegration of former convicts. 

He said they also encouraged communities to partner with prisons to set up committees to enable proper reintegration.

This, he said, was a way of helping to fight crime, reduce the number of returnees to prison and uplift the livelihoods of former inmates since they would be encouraged to set up businesses, through the skills they gained in prison.

Senior Superintendent Lekene stated that while in prison, inmates were taken through different training, where they were capacitated to enable them to transform their lives outside prison.

Meanwhile, Kgosi Moemedi Selolwane appreciated the initiative of engaging not only families, but community leaders, saying that would enable them to understand and welcome ex-convicts into society. BOPA