Many prisons do not have functional rehabilitation centres, or programmes which can help them acquire useful skills to make them self-reliant when they are released from prison. There are no training programmes to help ex-prisoners improve on their lives.

Statistics indicate that over 40 percent of those in prison had no jobs before going to prison. Ninety (90) percent of those who had jobs will lose their jobs because of their imprisonment. Ninety (90) of those who have a prison record will not find employment because of their prison record and stigma.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 67 percent of people released from prison will likely commit new offences and return to prison within three years. Thus, rehabilitation and formation programmes to provide self-reliant skills should be mandatory if recidivism is to be curbed. To achieve this, governments, the community, Churches, NGOs and the inmates themselves must work in partnership.

Victim Offender Prison Care Support, VOPS, is therefore, a non-profit social structure of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Buea, South West Region, Cameroon that offers holistic care to all those affected by crime, be they victims, offenders or the community. It works on crime prevention care during and after imprisonment, by offering opportunities, skills and support for a smooth reinsertion into the society.

Rehabilitation and Reinsertion

VOPS coordinator Rev. Sr. Jacqueline Atabong, explains that rehabilitation is holistic as a person is “whole” and must be treated in his/her entirety for effective reinsertion. She says the moral, spiritual, psycho-social and socio –economic aspects must be looked into and personalised.

As part of its holistic care approach, VOPS has thus built a home in Yassa (even though incomplete), where these recidivists are given a chance to spend a maximum of two and a half years while learning a trade and benefiting from professional support.

In the Douala Newbell Prison, VOPS has two computer training centres where inmates learn computer software applications and maintenance and receive certificates from College de la Salle. To that effect a cyber café and a shop have been constructed in front of the prison to create employment for ex-prisoners. They also keep themselves busy in sewing workshops.

There, inmates of all nationalities learn sewing and stitch many items including sports wears, school uniforms, and dresses. Women generally use the hair dressing saloon. Those who know the trade train others who express the interest to learn. Apart from styling, they equally sell beauty products. Meantime, jewelry-making has taken a turn for the better and has become a major occupation in the prison. Many women and men have developed great creative skills and earn their livelihood from it.

More than 50 prisoners are involved in this activity. There is equally a bakery that offers training and employment mainly to ex-prisoners resident in the Yassa Rehabilitation Centre. However, nonresident ex-detainees and crime-prone groups are also admitted to the training and could be recruited to work in the bakery.

Apart from these trainings, inmates of the New Bell Prison receive moral, spiritual and psycho-social rehabilitation to prepare them for a better reinsertion into the society. As such, VOPS offers them retreats, lectures, prayers, and seminars in line with the biblical prescription, “I was in prison and you visited me”. (Mt 25:36)