Africa-Press – Lesotho. Tšepo Fose, who is 20, was serving the final few weeks before he was due to be released from prison for a two-year sentence. And so when members of the Crime Prevention, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Ex-Convicts Association (CRROA) visited the Qacha’s Nek prison, spoke to him and other inmates, the assumption was that he would heed their timely counsel.
The idea behind the lecture was to encourage the inmates not to repeat the same mistakes that had put them in prison. The mission of the association which represents ex-convicts is to raise awareness among inmates that crime does not pay and also prepare them for life after prison.
“You should start changing and training yourselves to be good people.
That will help you when you get out of prison to cooperate with other people out there,” Nkalimeng Mothobi, the association’s chairperson, told the Qacha’s Nek inmates.
But barely two weeks after the visit, Fose appeared before the courts, charged with attempted rape – a crime committed while he was awaiting his freedom.
Fose’s case highlights the challenges faced by prison authorities and organisations such as CRROA as they seek to rehabilitate inmates into upright citizens and pursue their dreams after being released from prison.
For many, a life of crime and jail is all they know. Take Fose’s case for example. CRROA was at the prison talking to him and others about the wonderful opportunities outside prison and the advantages of a life outside crime.
“Despite our efforts, some inmates continue to commit crimes that end with their sentences being increased,” said Mothobi, the CRROA chairperson and a former inmate. Last Thursday, Fose was slapped with another two-year prison term for attempted rape.
The young man from Ha-Malefane, under Chief Ramoroana Khali, was nabbed by angry villagers after he tried to rape a girl who had passed near where the prisoners were working.
Like other prisoners who are about to complete their terms, Fose was allowed to work without stringent supervision. The court heard that after the girl passed, Fose asked a guard who was on duty to let him go and relieve himself.
Instead, he ran after the girl and tried to rape her. The girl, the court heard, raised alarm and villagers came rushing and caught Fose red-handed trying to force himself on her.
The court heard that the little girl was on her way to school when she passed near where the prisoners were cutting trees, just outside the Qacha’s Nek town. Fose pleaded guilty to the sexual offence.
“He committed the crime barely two weeks after we had visited the Qacha’s Nek prison to warn the inmates about the ills of falling back into a life of crime,” said Mothobi.
Hoping to inspire the prisoners, Mothobi had told them about his own story when he was an inmate at the Maseru Central Prison. Mothobi, who spent 20 years in prison for murder, told the inmates that he behaved well because he had a passion and love for life.
“That passion helped me to come out of prison as a changed man,” Mothobi said.
“I did not want to spend all my life as a prisoner and I worked hard to be a disciplined inmate with good conduct,” he said. Mothobi told them that they could also do the same and come out of prison as changed people.
“Have passion for your lives, come out of prison as changed people, think of a good future that you want your family and you to have,” Mothobi told the prisoners.
“That will help you to focus and people will think you are telling a lie when you say you were once in jail.
” He told them that he served his 20 years in jail, but he had a purpose in life and he worked hard not to go back to jail.
“Should I get back there my purpose in life will not be accomplished.
“We were in prison but we tried not to go back to jail because if we go back to jail our dreams will not become reality, we may just dream.
” Last week, a prisoner with outstanding good behaviour was presented with gifts as motivation for others to follow in his footsteps.
“This man has set a good example and if all of you can behave like him, your livesshall change,” Mothobi said. Fighting crime is vital in the area due to rampant criminal activities especially sexual offences.
For the past six months, the Qacha’s Nek magistrate’s court has heard at least one rape case almost every week, threatening to make the district Lesotho’s rape capital.
Police last year announced, without providing statistics, that Qacha’s Nek had more cases of sexual assault, with perpetrators being mostly people close to the victims.
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