A total of 5,337 Rwandan inmates from different detention facilities across Rwanda have been equipped with various vocational skills, the Commissioner General for the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) George Rwigamba revealed in Kigali on Monday.
Speaking during a press briefing, the Commissioner General of Prison (CGP) Rwigamba said the vocational training schemes were initiated in prisons as a move to give inmates opportunities to be equipped with skills that would help them to keep away from prison again after release.
Currently RCS is working together with the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) and Integrated Polytechnic Regional Colleges (IPRC) to have all prisoners acquire vocational skills that will prepare them for life after prison, he said.
Rwandan officials are convinced that inmates who receive general education and vocational training are significantly less likely to return to prison after their release and are more likely to find employment than those without such opportunities.
In June this year, Rwanda and the Netherlands signed a grant agreement under which some Euro 3.9 million will go towards the Rwanda Correction Service to build 10 vocational schools in five prisons to help inmates acquire vocational skills.
There are currently 13 prisons across Rwanda with just over 68,000 inmates.
Five such facilities are for women and one for juveniles.
CU/as/APA