Africa-Press – Cape verde. This Thursday, the Ministry of Justice presented the “Nu Cunfia-Bolsa de Entidades” project to businesspeople, with a view to raising awareness about the promotion of employment opportunities for Rave regime inmates and ex-prisoners.
Ministry of Justice raises awareness among businesspeople about promoting employment opportunities for inmates and ex-prisoners
Speaking to the press, Minister Joana Rosa explained that it is a program with which they want to count on the collaboration of businesspeople, so that they can also take on responsibilities in working on the part relating to the reinsertion and social reintegration of ex-prisoners.
“As you know, we have a significant prison population today, and the crime rate ends up having a direct impact on the prison population we have. And we, as the Ministry of Justice, have an obligation to work on the social reintegration of these inmates and to prepare them for life after serving their sentence”, he clarified.
Aware that guaranteeing employment for an ex-prisoner is a challenge, particularly in the issue related to social stigma, with the lack of trust among businesspeople in ex-prisoners, he justified the holding of this round table, today, in the City of Praia, with the aim of raising awareness among businesspeople about this cause.
The Round Table on Labor Reinsertion of Inmates aims, he stated, to show what the radiography of prison establishments in the country is, to call on the responsibility of businesspeople so that they can collaborate, offering to receive ex-prisoners or inmates under the Rave regime, or semi-open, for internships, post-sentence and having a job in these companies.
“But we are aware that companies are not always willing to welcome everyone, at the moment we have a pool of businesspeople and a pool of 200 or so inmates and we have to know where to place them, the types of work they can do depending on of the skills and professional training already received at the level of prison establishments”, he said.
The intention, he said, is to continue to accompany them even after serving their sentences, so that they can have better integration within the family, in the community, with decent employment, and, in this way, Cape Verde can reduce the population’s recidivism. prison, and the crime rate.
As Joana Rosa indicated, 74.4 percent (%) of the Cape Verdean prison population is young, around 60% of whom are drug users, 40% of those convicted of crimes against property, hence the need for a study for crime prevention.
Meanwhile, he assured that the Government has been working to significantly increase the number of social technicians and also in partnership with the Sotavento and Barlavento chambers of commerce, with a focus on implementing combat measures in all prison establishments.
For his part, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Sotavento, Marcos Rodrigues, assured that businesspeople view this project “with good eyes”, stating that “a country that really has the issue of reintegration resolved at all levels is a balanced country , a good and fair country.”
“And we really care about the integrated development of the country and that no one stands in the way on this development path”, he pointed out, encouraging businesspeople to do the best they know and can to help these men and women, who one day through misfortune they ran on different paths, to also feel part of this society.
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