“Human beings are human whether they are in prison or not...they are in jail and the next thing for them should be thinking of avoiding bad choice and create employment using the skills. This was the message delivered by Johnston Busingye, the Minister for Justice, after launching vocational schools in Rwanda’s correctional facilities. In total, 12 vocational schools worth Rwf4 billion were constructed in five correctional facilities across the country, and are expected to skill at least 3,000 inmates every six months. The inmates will be trained in masonry, plumbing, mechanics, electricity, construction, tailoring, carpentry, leathercraft, ICT, hairdressing, beautification and wielding. Without a doubt, this is a revolutionary programme in our correctional facilities—it will give prisoners the opportunity to improve and play a positive role in society once they are released. One of the most important elements of this programme is that it will also focus on the youth—most of whom have low levels of training and negligible work experience. It will not only enhance their chances of self-employment once they are released from prison, but will also deliver much needed effective rehabilitation. To that end, this is a very significant step towards making prisons more effective for offenders who really want to transform their lives. However, we suggest that in future more programmes like computer coding among others be added to the skillset given to the inmates. While we have not seen the whole curriculum, we hope that it blends technical skills with soft skills such as time management, teamwork and the ability to embrace the diversity of other people. That way, it will be easy to reduce recidivism —re-offending — and produce successful human beings as the final “products” from correctional centres. Hopefully, this was the Attorney General’s thought process when he remarked that; “ We think about inmates in a sustainable way, give them hope and the future by equipping them with the skills.”
