By Kemo Cham
Eleven prisoners serving terms for various offenses in the Makeni Correctional Center were among 384 people who graduated from the University of Makeni (UniMak) over the weekend.
The first of its kind in Sierra Leone’s penitentiary system, the graduates undertook six months courses at certificate level in Community Development Studies & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the modules they undertook included Information Technology, Agriculture, and Psychosocial Counselling.
A statement from the Sierra Leone Correctional Services (SLCS), revealed that the inmates – all of them men, were first enrolled in July 2019.
"When the course started, sixteen inmates were enrolled, but some could not pass the final exams, as is more often than not the case in every academic journey," Superintendent Salieu S. Turay, Officer- In- Charge of the Makeni Correctional Centre, was quoted saying after the ceremony held on Saturday 22nd February.
Supt Turay added that the inmates were trained at the cost of the Catholic run university which did it as part of their corporate social responsibility. The school, he said, provided both note and text books for the inmates free of charge during the course of the study.
A spokesman for the SLCS told Politico that besides pass mark at secondary school level, they also considered the behavior of the inmates while selecting the beneficiaries for the scholarship.
They graduands are serving terms ranging from one to three years.
Professor Joseph A. Turay, Vice Chancellor of UniMak, noted that the idea was the brainchild of the Community Development Studies Department, which had led to the UniMak-SLCS partnership.
Unisa Patrick Kamara, Head of the Community Development Studies Department, assured of the continuation of the partnership, noting that Saturday’s graduation marked the beginning of a long lasting relationship.
"As long as the Makeni Correctional Centre keeps having inmates with at least 3 credits at the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), we will continue to provide the learning atmosphere,” he said.
He added: “We want to help offenders become better people in society upon their reintegration, to contribute to economic development."
The SLCS did not release the names of the graduating inmates. But in its statement, it cited one of them expressing delight for the opportunity, promising not to ever return to his “offending ways” when he shall have been discharged from the Centre. The inmate also promised to put into good use the knowledge they had gained in the course of their studies.
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