Mr. Benson Iwuagwu is the Executive Director of Prison Fellowship Nigeria, a group involved in the welfare, restoration and rehabilitation of prisoners. Called to Bar in 2002, he underwent pupilage at Falana and Falana Chambers in Lagos. Iwuagwu tells Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU how to improve the condition of inmates, among other issues.
What is Prison Ministry all about?
Prison Ministry is the gamut of compassionate psycho-social support and assistance extended to a person in incarceration; expressed in multidimensional and multidisciplinary programmes and projects that help resolve the spiritual, mental, emotional and physiological dilemma, deprivations and trauma of the prison inmates, victims, their relationships and community. Overall, prison ministry aims for the reformation, rehabilitation, reintegration and restoration of all those involved in and affected by crime and its aftermath.
How do you appraise the impact or effect of Prison Ministry in the country?
The impact of Prison Ministry is enormous. Prison Fellowship Nigeria comprises of hundreds of churches and ministries, has its inaugurated chapters in 26 states in Nigeria, conducting daily prison visitations in aid of tens of thousands of men, women, boys and girls, including children held in our prisons. In a forced isolation such as imprisonment, nothing is more precious than a visit from the outside, more so, by total strangers who come in the name of love. In the words of a ranking Prison Officer, “without you people coming around and doing what you are doing to support us in taking care of the inmates, I do not know what this place will look like”. That our prisons are congested, is a notorious fact. So also, is the fact that, the Nigerian Prison Service is under funded. The over 50,000 men and women, including children held in our prisons have needs, ranging from food to toiletries, clothing, education, medical, material and legal. Most have been abandoned by outraged relatives and forsaken by a sanctimonious society, it is Prison Ministry practitioners that intermediate; to give the inmates a sense of self worth through sharing with them the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ, compassionate visits, family liaison, provisions and counsel. Whilst the government and society maybe content that the offender has been confined, the more serious question is, “What happens after incarceration?” Prison ministry helps to repair the harm caused by the crime of the convicted person in prison, beginning with relatives and victims of the crime, to make return of the convict after sentence, a possibility.
How can government, individuals and organisations key into this vision and project?.
Effective prison ministry is all encompassing, with room for everyone who is minded to lend a hand.
The government is the bedrock of our collective social relationships; it must be mindful of the fact that, prisoners come from and will return to the society after their prison term. So, custodial conditions must be both humane and complementary to reformation. Discriminatory laws must be abrogated, the present situation where one is statutorily excluded from employment by reason of having been in prison, is most unfair, inhuman and counter productive. It’s akin to “biting the nose to spite the face”. It consigns the poor ex-prisoner to a life sentence of stigmatisation and ostracisation from meaningful socio-economic life, while fueling recidivism to our collective hurt.
How do you think the government would key into this mission?
Governments should proactively extend all ongoing Millennium Development Goal projects, in health, education, socio-economic empowerment et al, to the prisons. Cognisant of the fact that imprisonment does not take away the constitutional rights of prisoners, beyond what the law prescribes in sanction. For individuals and organisations, empathy is key. The present social attitudes of discrimination and stigmatisation must be discouraged. That done, it becomes easier to reach out to either give your talent or treasure in support of credible prison ministry organisations, like Prison Fellowship Nigeria that have proven and ongoing intervention programmes in the prisons across Nigeria, to assist in the reformation, rehabilitation and re-integration of prisoners, victims (primary and secondary victims, particularly children, who neglected become street children and then miscreants). Corporate organisations should make specific provisions in their CSR budgets to sponsor offender, victim intervention programmes in and outside the prisons.
Which aspects of our laws do you think we need to amend to meet the challenges of criminal justice administration in the country?
With all due respect, I think the fundamental philosophy of our criminal justice system is largely flawed. It is, in my humble opinion, yet premised on the medieval principle of “the Kings Peace”. What is our definition of crime? Who are the parties in a criminal charge? It is axiomatic that, justice is not just about “out comes” but very importantly, about the process. This fact is underscored by the fact that, once there is a failure in compliance with critical rules of procedure, the subsequent outcome has often been held to be a nullity.
The Criminal Justice Administration Act, 2015 is very significant, particularly with respect to regulating, arrest, accused statement, charge and detention, non custodial sentencing options et al. The fact, however remains: “ Once the premise of an argument is wrong, the conclusion will be irremediably unsupportable”
Until we begin to see crime as “ a violation of individual rights and relationships, resulting in harms and hurts”, we may not arrive at the kind of justice envisaged under the social contract. We should go from “retribution and deterrence” to, “reparation and restoration”, otherwise, our prisons will remain congested with neither society, offender or victim satisfied that, justice has been served. The nebulous concept of state in criminal justice must be modified to reflect the “Proper Parties” to include the victims of crime; and the aim of justice, cannot only be punishment and just desert but “ healing the hurts and harms caused by crime, in ways that meet the needs of the offender, healing the harms done the victim and restoration of social harmony”. Restorative justice and not Retributive justice, is the way to achieve a better sense of justice for every offender,victim and society.
What is the “Onesimus Project” all about, what are the benefits and how do we keep it going?
“Life Recovery Pre-release Empowerment Programme” a.k.a “ The Onesimus Project”, is a partnership programme between Prison Fellowship Nigeria, Covenant University, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria and the Nigerian Prison Service; which aims to break the vicious circle of recidivism, through pre and post release mentoring of inmates who have six months to the end of their prison term. The curriculum of the programme includes spiritual care giving, sharing the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ, equipping them with business, entrepreneurial and vocational skills. The programme further deals with personality and psycho dysfunction challenges that predispose to crime and criminality. Each partner – Covenant University, SMEDAN, PF Nigeria deals with its area of specialty within the programme curriculum. Each inmate admitted is assigned a mentor for a period of 18 months – six months pre release and 12months post rerelease; the mentor plays the role of friend and family liaison, counselor and guide. Upon release, in appropriate cases, they are provided temporary accommodation, assisted to plan and decide what to do and given venture seed money. The Onesimus Project has enormous psycho-social impact on the inmates that have gone through it, with full compliments of matriculation and graduation. Recidivism rate among the project graduates is about 20 percent , against the general average of about 68 percent. We are however, a long way from our programme ideals, largely because our post release component is lacking in resources for effective follow-up, venture startup seed money and personal development of the programme graduates.
We solicit first, for attitudinal change from members of the public towards returning ex-prison inmates. A welcoming environment for the returning ex-prison inmates is critical; then support in cash or kind. Individuals and organisations can volunteer to provide support for post release housing, skill and vocational training, apprenticeship venture seed money.
People are calling for the strengthening of the anti-corruption agencies through legislations to give them more bite, what is your reaction to this?
The problem is not with the laws but with the men! What values do we hold dear as a people? Again, who do the politicians represent, how fair and equitable do they deal? Looting of the public is a reaction to suspicion of the viability of the Nigerian project and doubt in the fidelity of the other parties – insurgency in North East, Niger Delta and the Biafran jingles. Visit our prisons, how many “rich men, women or their loyalists” do you find there? The rich is getting richer, the poor getting poorer, the system is simply oppressive on many sides. How will the laws work? Give me a sense of belonging, participation and ownership premised on commonly shared values, then my allegiance is sure. National institutions, including the anti-corruption agencies, are built on common values and fidelity, unperturbed by the manipulative colouration of tribe and religion, most often deployed by our politicians and technocrats. When there is suspicion and doubt in a relationship, cheating and evasive conduct becomes the norm. We have more than enough laws to deal with corruption, if we deal with the reasons for suspicion and lack of fidelity in the Nigerian project.
What are the challenges of the ministry and, how can its vision be integrated into the administration of Criminal Justice in the country?
We have enormous man and material challenges. Prison Ministry is involved with lives of tens of thousands of men, women and children. It rubs off on family cohesion, safety, security, our productive capacity and social civilisation as a nation. It requires empathy, patience and commitment. We do not have enough volunteers, a lot of people are interested in going to preach in prisons or just casual giving but often not ready for the long haul, which is what is required in prison ministry. Specialist volunteers, logistics support, infrastructure and committed funding remains daunting. We are addressing this, in part, through developing programmes that are partnership friendly, reaching out to corporate organisations to allocate part of their CSR budgets to support prison-related programmes and projects.
What is your mission in relation to criminal Justice reform on criminal justice reform?
Part of our mission is to offer counsel and support, in the development of a criminal justice system that is holistic and restorative in its outcomes, cognisant and respectful of the needs and rights of the offender, victims and society; in pursuit of this justice ideal, Prison Fellowship globally advocates the Restorative Criminal Justice System. Here in Nigeria, it is taken, that Lagos State is the leading light in many respects; its court system is evolving to meet the justice needs of the people. You have the Citizens Mediation Centre, Office of Public Defender and the Multi-Door court system; to complete the loop, Prison Fellowship Nigeria has signed a five year Memorandum of Understanding with Lagos State Ministry of Justice, to do a Restorative Justice Pilot Project, which foundations have been well laid by the state in the administration of criminal justice law, 2011.
We hope, upon a successful pilot to advocate for its nation wide application through appropriate Legislation at the National Assembly.
