By: Yusuf M Hasan
MANDERA (Somalilandsun) – The custodial corps has official turned from a punitive based institution to a corrective one.
This change-over follows the official launch of a prisons workshop by the justice minister Mr Jamal Hussein Aideed at the Mandera maximum security prison in Sahil region.
The prison facility that also hosts the national prison guard’s boot camp saw the minster inaugurate Carpentry, Wielding and Tailoring workshops where inmates will receive related skills trainings.
While informing that the workshops will not only operate as prisoners training facilities but production centres as well the justice minister who urged citizens support said that the items manufactured shall be of quality.
Said he “I ask our citizens to buy the quality and cheap material that our prison facilities have started producing”
After officially inaugurating the workshops Minister Aideed thanked the custodial corps and various international agencies that made the training program a reality.
According to the National Prisons service Commander Brigadier Gen Mohamed Hussein Farah “Hirane’ the training program which is service has sought for long shall initially provide internal supplies to cut costs of running the institutions.
“While our main target is the public we shall first concentrate on provisioning the custodial corps with Uniforms (Guards & Prisoners) office furniture etc.”
Gen Hirane who informed that similar programs existed before the collapse of the Somalia union said that benefits accrued shall not only be financial or material only but a reduction in the number of jail birds in the country.
Among the main agencies that have contributed to the prisons training program is the United Nations Industrial Development Organization-UNIDO which has already equipped some prison facilities with relevant tools.UNIDO training program Targets Inmates
