WRITTEN OFF AS LOST CAUSES

 Sir,

It seems like leaving prison is as tough as entering it. For many ex-prisoners, being released feels like entering a new type of jail.
Upon being released, their communities do not trust them. Is it because people do not trust that the Correctional Services is doing a good job in the rehabilitation of prisoners?

Most ex-prisoners, upon being released from jail, they go into a world where they are no longer welcomed. They enter a world where becoming a productive and contributing member of the public is close to impossible.

Deliberately

They find themselves still chained down by the bad things they did in the past, as if the system was deliberately designed to confine them to a constricted path leading them back to incarceration.
Some former prisoners have tried, numerous times, to turn their lives around and make something for themselves, some have even equipped themselves academically but still they face identical judgment and are always written off as lost causes, criminals and trouble to society.

Qualifications
Despite all their hard work and the qualifications in their possession, they are still not afforded job opportunities because of their criminal records.

Rehabilitate

Was the justice system intended to help rehabilitate prisoners and help them become better people or it was designed to punish them, and then after they are done serving their time they continue paying for their past mistakes in society?

Because of their criminal records, they can’t get jobs and in some instances they can’t get financing to start their own businesses.
When they can’t find employment, they will almost always resort to the only way they know to get by.

Dreadful

Faced with few options and in desperation, they will most probably return to making dreadful decisions as a survival mechanism.
The former prisoners will continue to offend if that’s the only road available to them. But we can change that and reduce the prison population, if we can reduce recidivism.

We can reduce this by creating new paths towards productive living, dismantling the obstacles former offenders face in turning their lives around and becoming law-abiding citizens.

David Lukhele

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: