A Non-Governmental Organization, the Clement Isong Foundation (TCIF), on Friday donated 10 bundles of corrugated roofing sheets to Uyo Prisons in Akwa Ibom.
Mrs. Nne Isong, Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, said the foundation donated the roofing sheets to the prison to encourage prison reforms.
Isong said the gesture was in line with the global trend of transforming prisons from punitive institutions to reformatory centres.
She said that since there was the possibility of miscarriage of justice, the foundation was moved to provide vocational skills and other empowerment programmes for inmates.
“We reckon with the fact that there is the possibility of miscarriage of justice.
“TCIF therefore, seeks through various vocational skills empowerment programmes, to give a sense of value and provide options of viability to these pariahs of the human society.
“This is with the goal of preparing them for a life of economic productivity and self-worth after serving their jail terms.
“The issue of judicial review of contentious cases also constitutes the goal of TCIF in ensuring justice for the hapless and downtrodden,” she said.
In his response, the Deputy Controller of Prison in the state, Mr. Rabbi Freedman, commended the foundation for the gesture.
Freedman urged other well-meaning Nigerians, corporate organizations and religious bodies to emulate the Clement Isong Foundation by assisting prison inmates.
He underscored the need for partnership with the prison service toward evolving programmes that would benefit the inmates.
“I will like us to remember that the inmates we have in our custody are an important sub-segment of the society.
“They are our brothers and sisters; 98 per cent of them are people from this state. Therein lies the need for us to remember them and visit them.
“Equally we will be fulfilling scriptural injunction of visiting those who are in prisons and those who are indigent, if we do so,” Freedman said.
The deputy controller added that the materials would go along way to improve on the infrastructure in the prison.
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