Africa-Press – Botswana. The National Offender Reintegration Conference hosted by the Botswana Prisons Service (BPS) begins sunday and is expected to end on August 29.
The conference, held under the theme, Sustainable Reintegration – Key to a Crime-Free Botswana, will be held at the Royal Aria in Tlokweng and it seeks to strengthen participation and foster partnerships of all relevant stakeholders in rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.
The President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, is expected to officiallly open the conference monday.
Briefing the media recently, BPS public relations manager, Senior Superintendent Oagile Kojane said the conference would host over 1 000 participants including heads of prisons, correctional and penitentiary services from both Zimbabwe and Singapore.
Senior Supt. Kojane added that community based reintegration committees, field experts and ex-offenders, among others, would be a part of the event.
“Among some of the objectives is that the conference will create a platform for stakeholder engagement and promote community involvement for sustainable reintegration. In addition, the meeting would allow committees to exchange ideas on best practices and provide a forum for ex-offenders to share their experiences on rehabilitation and reintegration programmes,” he said.
He added that panellists would include the Commissioner of Prisons, Ms Dinah Marathe, Ntlo ya Dikgosi chairperson, Kgosi Puso Gaborone as well as Commissioner General – Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service, University of Botswana, Faith Based Organisations and SADC.
Deliberations would also include a presentation on mindset change by Ambassador Rachel Nekati as well as presentations on Rehabilitation and Reintegration: Botswana and another on Open Prison System by Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service.
Also, he said there would be deliberations on reintegration model from Prison to the Community-Singapore Prison Service, contribution of Faith Based Organisations towards effective offender reintegration and Community Based Reintegration Committees.
Notably, he said two ex-offenders, Mr Piet Tshwabuwe and Mr Isa Makwete, who formed part of the bigger success story of BPS rehabilitation and reintegration programme would also share their testimonies.
On one hand, Mr Kojane said BPS, established in 1958, aspired to be a model institution of correctional excellence.
“The BPS operates with values of accountability, discipline, integrity, security consciousness and teamwork, which are critical for promoting the delivery of high performance culture,” he said.
He added that at the time BPS was established, there was minimal rehabilitation and emphasis was mainly in industries and agriculture using the traditional methods and practiced at small scale.
Nonethless, he regretted that despite efforts to offer various rehabilitation programmes to offenders, the BPS continued to experience rise in re-offending and recidivism being attributed minimal efforts on the reintegration services, he said.
“This adversely affects the critical role of the organisation in contributing toward national peace and security as aligned to the Sustainable Development Goal No. 16, SADC Vision 2050 and Vision 2036 of Botswana Pillar No. 4 on Governance, Peace and Security,” he said.
Furthermore, he indicated that in alignment to government’s Reset Agenda priority five on mindset change and the commissioner’s roadmap, which provided for strategic direction on the operation of the BPS, the organisation, had advanced in service delivery, human capital, infrastructure and strides to be a strong institution of correctional excellence.
“This transformation is marked by the introduction of the ninth character moulding programme of Gender Based Violence (GBV) perpetrators, which was launched in September 2021 by the First Lady, Ms Neo Masisi,” he said.
Again, he said the Offender Rehabilitation and Reintegration Strategy in October 2021, which formed the basis of the introduction of the offender reintegration programme to target successful social or community re-entry of offenders upon release.
“It is aimed at fostering social reintegration of offenders within their communities, to accord them the opportunity to lead positive, productive and meaningful life free from crime,” he said.
He said the participation of the community in strengthening and enhancing rehabilitation and reintegration was crucial hence, the establishment of community based structures. Currently, he said there were 426 Community Based Reintegration Committees (CBRC) established around the country and 270 ex-offenders were handed to some of the committees.
“All these efforts were strides toward achieving high performance culture, through repositioning, realigning and re-engineering the prisons service to achieve its mandate,” he said.
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