One’s reputation is built through actions that are sometimes intentional and in some other instances, through certain incidents.
Some people have found themselves in unpleasant circumstances that they thought they would never have to deal with, with quite a number ending up in prison due to poor judgment or pressure from certain quarters.
However, not all is lost when one finds themselves behind bars. We carry articles on prison life in this publication in a bid to help ex-convicts re-integrate into the community after their stay in prison and for the society to also learn to accept them back after their rehabilitation in prison.
Prison is a correctional facility where training is provided in order to alter certain behaviours in the inmates and many have turned out well after their stay in prison.
In our previous edition, we carried an article in which Dr Trust Sinjoki, called on society to be more accepting to former prison inmates so that they do not feel alienated and end up offending hence landing back in prison.
In fact, what he said was that from his experience spanning many years in prison ministry, many ex-convicts that re-offended felt rejected by their families or society at large and felt they were better in prison rather than being judged by society because of their stay in prison.
We believe society should sit up and listen especially since the plea is coming from a man that has helped reform many convicts and turned many of them into pastors and even facilitated their marriages and acceptance by congregants.
Indeed, if we all welcome our relatives that would have spent time in prison with open arms, we could play our part in reducing the number of those that re-offend and end up in prison.
In this process of rehabilitation and re-integration, we believe that if there is a rating or point system where an ex-convict is rewarded each year for not re-offending, it would also motivate them to work on their behaviour knowing that good behaviour would gradually erase their dark past over time.
We need to forgive and accept our brothers and sisters and help them start all over in life. Elsewhere in this issue we carry a story of a businessman whose life was changed while he was in prison through the training programmes offered there.
As a correctional facility, prison is a place of hope instead of despair, hence we need to be hopeful and be ready to work through issues that would have landed our loved ones in prison so that they maintain their freedom and hope they regained behind bars.
