Stigma against ex-offenders is an ugly trend that has pervaded the collective psyche of Nigerians and seemingly eroded our sense of humanity, justice and religiosity. Stigma can be operationally defined as a situation where society holds negative view of an ex-offender. People attribute stigma of ex-offenders to the inefficiency of the prison system in Nigeria. However, turning out reformed ex-offenders is not the exclusive preserve of the Nigerian Prisons Service alone, it is also the duty of all and sundry, including ex-offenders’ peers, relatives, community members, traditional leaders and significant others. A reformed ex-offender is one who, while in prison, has been rehabilitated through behaviour modification techniques, equipped with a skill to help him or her survive in a competitive environment, and most importantly, one who has been accepted in the community he or she is returning to without any form of discrimination, prejudice or bias.
Most often, many ex-offenders are discriminated against by their significant others who ordinarily should be their pillars of support. Many Nigerians perceive ex-offenders as pariahs who must not be trusted. In many communities, the ex-offender is considered a persona non grata and taken with so much suspicion and skepticism. Ex-offenders are erroneously considered to be dangerous persons who should be feared and distanced. Many Nigerians dine with ex-offenders with long spoons and are petrified when they suddenly bump into them. This is so because hitherto, prisons, most especially in Nigeria, are seen as deformation centre where prisoners are hardened the more. Therefore, a first time offender who is sent to prison for minor offences like stealing, turns out to become an armed robber after imprisonment. This notion has been proved wrong in recent times, as our prisons have been equipped with the capacity to enhance the personalities that pass through them. More so, ex-offenders have paid their debts for their wrongdoings and have been deemed fit for reintegration into the society, it would be fallacious to consider them as dangerous and treacherous.
Unfortunately, even the government and other public institutions discriminate against ex-offenders by denying them employment, political appointment, right to be voted for, as well as other benefits that accrue to Nigerian citizens. Often times, government ministries, departments and agencies ask of one’s conviction status when they are filling out recruitment forms so as to deny them such jobs even when they are qualified for them. If government who should discourage stigma against ex-offenders is at the forefront of this barbaric practice, then one can imagine what would be expected from the private sector. Ex-offenders and even current offenders serving their jail terms are stigmatized in several areas such as employment, elections, financial aids, and access to education. Other areas in which they are discriminated upon include access to farm inputs such as fertilizers, healthcare, traditional leadership positions in the community, political appointments, political party membership, financial grants, subsidies and other largesse from the government. This is counterproductive considering the effort put in place to train them in prison so as to make them productive and responsible individuals in the society.
Several theories have explained the drastic effects of stigmatizing ex-offenders. The labeling theory, for instance, posits that being discriminated upon as ex-offender cause one to internalize stigmatizing attitudes, withdraw from conventional society, and conform to a deviant identity, thereby further compounding the security situation of the immediate community and the nation as a whole; Ditto for theory of social stigma and other socio-psychological theories that have been postulated on the effects of stigma on the ex-offender. Psychological research shows that stigmatizing ex-offenders can interfere with their functioning and lead them into maladaptive behaviours that may threaten public safety. Also, stigma can lead ex-offenders into poor mental health and difficulty participating in the community, and can also lead to social seclusion and depression which are ingredients of suicide. Stigmatization can lead to recidivism because it affects the ex-offender’s ability to find job and hampers smooth reentry, hence providing them a leeway to their old criminal lifestyles.
With the renaissance in the prison sector since the assumption of office of the current Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, Nigerian prisons have changed from the deformation centres which they use to be, to reformation centres where offenders undergo genuine behaviour modification as well as skills acquisition and empowerment. Hence, prisons have long stopped churning out hardened criminals to graduating refined and empowered persons who are contributing positively to national development. This is evident in the recent events where ex-offenders who were trained in various skills are provided with aftercare materials to support them to set up their own enterprises. For instance, recently on the Thursday, 8th March, 2018, empowerment tools were presented to some ex-offenders who had acquired skills in trades like tailoring, metal work, carpentry, shoe-making and so on, thereby removing them from the labyrinths of unemployment in Nigeria and giving them a rare opportunity of becoming employers of labour.
The Nigerian prison of today has produced educated persons, and empowered them to become graduates and professionals in different areas of study. It will interest the public to know that prison inmates have unfettered access to different educational programmes including university education. The recent collaboration with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has caused a turnaround in the prison system. Now, special centres of the university are being set up in different prisons nationwide with high enrolments of prison inmates. Also recently, at the convocation of the university, many prison inmates graduated with good class of degrees.
It behoves on the Nigerians to accept these ex-offenders wholeheartedly and give them a second chance to be responsible citizens of our dear country. Stigmatizing ex-offenders even after they have undergone effective behaviour modification and reformation will make mockery of the good work that the Nigerian Prisons Service under the pragmatic leadership of Ahmed Ja’afaru is doing. The society should understand that there are two phases of reformation of offenders. The first phase takes place in prison, while the second takes place while they are being resettled in the communities. And proper resettlement can only be achieved when the communities in which the ex-offenders are returning to accept them without any form of bias or discrimination. Stigmatizing ex-offenders translates into throwing the community into severe security problems because they will feel secluded and take to crime as a defence mechanism.
In the light of the above, the government and other employers of labour should desist from the practice of alienating ex-offenders from job opportunities. Ex-prisoners should also not be placated from contesting in elections and gaining from other opportunities that accrue to bona fide citizens of Nigeria. Ex-prisoners should be considered when making political appointments, just as political parties should open their membership doors to them. This piece is therefore a clarion call to the public to support the Nigerian Prisons Service in the effective resettlement of ex-offenders by supporting them to find their footings and refraining from stigmatizing them.
Ugwuoke Kelvin Abuchi can be contacted via ugwukev11@gmail.com
