The Minister of Interior, Alfred Gasana, along with other officials, launched the construction works for a halfway social reintegration center in Rwamagana district, on Thursday, May 25.

The first of its kind, the center is one of several others expected to be constructed in all Rwandan provinces to enhance the successful reintegration of inmates who are about to be released into society.

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The establishment of the halfway social reintegration center aligns with the government&039;s goal of shifting towards correctional programs for inmates. The facility will provide inmates with the necessary tools to become productive members of society and reduce recidivism rates.

According to officials, the center will be worth more than Rwf4 billion upon completion. Inmates at the center will learn career development and entrepreneurial skills, counseling in terms of mental health, prevention of the use and distribution of drugs, and get courses related to conflict resolution and management.

Speaking at the launch of the construction work for the halfway social reintegration center, the Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS), CGP Juvenal Marizamunda, said: "The aim of the establishment of halfway social reintegration centers is to make sure that inmates who are yet to be released are successfully reintegrated into society through the available programs that will be provided at the centers.

"It is also in line with the government’s vision of embracing a shift from punitive programs to correctional programs for inmates. The halfway social reintegration center will provide inmates with the necessary tools to become productive members of society.”

The facilities will be established on eight hectares of land in Muhazi sector, Rwamagana district, with the first phase of the project implementation operating on four hectares costing more than Rwf1 billion.

According to the design, the facility will have various amenities including workshop centers, dormitories, a health post, a kitchen, a multipurpose building, and a store.

Besides focusing on career development and entrepreneurial skills, conflict resolution, and management, the Minister of Interior, Alfred Gasana, said it will also help reduce recidivism rates.

Gasana said: "It is evident that there has been a realized gap among inmate families towards partnering with Rwanda Correctional Service towards reintegrating inmates to society. Inmates have on occasion been isolated by society and this has increased recidivism rates.

"These centers will help inmates familiarize themselves with society and prepare families before the reintegration process. They will also promote efforts of reconciliation between victims and perpetrators, which will eventually help to reduce recidivism rates.”

Set to be inaugurated in April 2024, the center will have the capacity to house 2,500 inmates, 500 of them being women.

Speaking to The New Times, Marizamunda said that, so far, the eligibility window for an inmate to enroll in the center is six months to one year remaining on the inmate’s sentence. During this period, the inmate will be entitled to, among other things, receive occasional visits from families and friends. As noted, there will also be room for reconciliation between victims and crime perpetrators in addition to room to put to use the inmates’ learned skills in society.

The center will host inmates from Rwamagana, Ngoma, Bugesera, Nyagatare, and other districts’ prisons upon consent from the Rwanda Correctional Service.

Eventually, the plan is to have similar facilities in all the other provinces.

The aim is to provide a holistic approach to inmate rehabilitation and reintegration, with a focus on reducing recidivism rates and promoting reconciliation between victims and perpetrators, and familiarizing inmates with society as well as preparing the society to successfully reintegrate them.

Ibuka requests that genocide survivors be prepared beforehand

The government is developing a unique curriculum to guide the rehabilitation and reintegration of more than 22,000 convicts of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi into society after completing their sentences, the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Jean Damascene Bizimana, said on Tuesday, May 23. Bizimana made the revelation while addressing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Unity, Human Rights, and Fight against Genocide regarding efforts in place to combat genocide ideology and related crimes.

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Ibuka, an umbrella association of survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi, has welcomed the halfway social reintegration center but stressed the importance of having genocide survivors prepared too.

The Executive Secretary of Ibuka, Naphtal Ahishakiye, told The New Times that: "We have always requested that genocide convicts who are completing their sentences, be prepared and taught before being released and reintegrated into the society. But we have also requested that there will be efforts to prepare genocide survivors for the release of the perpetrators.

"Information should be shared with them [survivors] some months before the perpetrators are released. Imagine an old woman who last saw the perpetrator during the genocide when he was killing people and, now, all of a sudden meets him or her on the road, unaware of the fact that he or she was released. That is why we ask for the preparation of the survivors.”