Compassion Connectors unveil skills programme for inmates

Compassion Connectors Nigeria has launched an initiative to train prison inmates in compassion and employable skills to improve their post-release opportunities.

The launch, which took place on Monday at Umuahia Custodial Centre, Abia, was attended by prison inmates, representatives of the Umuahia Custodial Centre, including the Deputy Controller of Corrections, as well as dignitaries including faith leaders and members of other state-wise NGOs.

In a statement, the Global Compassion Coalition hoped to train over 8000 prisoners at the Umuahia Custodial Centre in how to offer compassion to themselves and others, as well as in skills that could increase their employability upon release.

According to the group, the programme aims to help individuals and communities live with compassion and use solidarity and connection to tackle some of the country’s most pressing issues.

“Research shows that the biggest predictors of reoffending by released prisoners are a lack of employable skills combined with difficulties integrating back into society. The latter issue is often compounded by a sense of alienation felt by the prisoners,” it stated.

It noted that the Compassion Champions programme aimed at tackling those deficits by not only equipping prisoners with technical skills, such as in carpentry, digital design, and plumbing, but also helping them to cultivate their compassion for themselves and others.

It added that the emotional toolkit could help individuals address some of the impulses and thought processes that contributed to their original offence as well as help them better communicate with and relate to others.

Compassion Connectors Nigeria hoped that the success of the programme in Umuahia would demonstrate the value of a fresh approach to the treatment of prison inmates.

It encouraged other authorities across Nigeria to engage with it, learn about the programme, and launch similar initiatives at their custodial centres.

The National Coordinator for the Nigeria Compassion Connectors, Uwalaka Uchechukwu, said, “This is about showing we can and must do things differently. If we continue to punish and demean prisoners, all we do is alienate them further from the rest of society.

“That is bad for them and bad for the rest of us. It leads to more crime, more violence, more conflict, and a weaker society.

“The Compassion Champions programme aims to bridge that divide and restore humanity to the way we in Nigeria approach the treatment of our prison inmates.”

Also, the Chief Operating Officer at the Global Compassion Coalition, Matt Hawkins, said, “The Global Compassion Coalition exists because we believe we need to see an urgent reawakening of our common humanity across the world. Conflict, division, inequality—it all stems from a mode of living that emphasises difference, competition, and, in the end, hatred.

“We have to move beyond that. We have to reconnect. Uwalaka and the Compassion Connectors Nigeria project at Umuahia are an inspiring and perfect example of that ideal in action. They are showing that our humanity has to have no boundaries.”