The cost of rehabilitating repentant criminals in a harsh economy

Nigeria remains a case study of countries that invest much taxpayer money into the rehabilitation of acclaimed repentant criminals or terrorists. Forgiveness is an attitude we should embrace and preach to society, but there are clauses that need to be addressed.

This is money gotten from payments made by private and corporate bodies that are statutory payments to the coffers of the government, which is in turn used to improve basic amenities such as the construction of roads, the building of schools, and other projects as deemed fit by the government. Though this money is statutory, it is encouraging to the payers when value for their money is seen, such as the provision of basic amenities.

Both rehabilitation and correctional centers may have different names, but I view them as having similar endpoints, even though the latter has freedom confined to the four walls of a prison yard. The prison centers in Nigeria have been renamed correctional centers so as to reduce the stigma attached thereto. Nonetheless, from a layman's interpretation of rehabilitation and correctionals, both can be interchangeably used, except that the former is mostly associated with behavioral cases.

In a sane and ideal society, the number of criminals and terrorists would be minimal, and hence, having less concern for rehabilitation measures as a corrective tool would be a necessity before incorporating them into the system. If we are to reflect on the harm and damages committed by these acclaimed criminals, the penalty should be imprisonment or death. But then, I am yet to fully understand why a man who stole a fowl would get two years of imprisonment while another affluent man who launders billions of naira that could have made life better for the common man gets a six-month sentence. Like I said, I am yet to understand the judicial system in Nigeria, and maybe that's the approach given to this set of people.

When we see the kingship lifestyle accorded to the acclaimed repentant criminals and terrorists, one would be tempted to wish to be in their shoes. Where there are excess resources, I would have no problem with how much is spent to rehabilitate these people. However, with a harsh economy where the honest and common man finds it difficult to afford a three-square meal or have a roof over his roof, it is a great injustice against the honest man to see that the repentant criminals are treated like kings.

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Personally, I would be uncomfortable working with a repented criminal or terrorist, especially in the early moments of his repentance. I would always look over my shoulder to be sure I was not in the bad books of the repented criminal.

Even in medicine, our focus is now shifted more to preventive and promotional medicine than curative. When measures are put in place by the government to prevent the need for people to engage in vices and end up as criminals or terrorists, there will be fewer incidents of these types of people and a need for rehabilitation.

Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.