Offenders from Nigel Prison set on changing mindset of school learners
NIGEL - The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) had convened a crime prevention awareness programme to find solutions for the scourge of juvenile delinquency that is troubling many communities.
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The aim of the programme is both educational and informative, addressing youth criminality in rural communities especially.
In collaboration with its offender rehabilitation programme, correctional intervention officers from Nigel Correctional Services arranged for a visit of two offenders to NN Ndebele Secondary School in Duduza on May 12, where they shared the lesson of being incarcerated. In addressing the Grade 11 and 12 learners, offenders Patrick Sebatjane and Thabang Khunou held nothing back. They interacted with learners, educating and sensitising them about the consequences of committing a crime.
Their stories of a past tainted by criminal activities through wrong choices, followed by legal prosecution and a life behind bars served as a warning and left most of the learners wide eyed. Some stories were met with cries of shock and disbelief, evidently having the required effect on the learners.
As part of on-going crime awareness and crime prevention initiatives in schools, DCS, in partnership with various stakeholders, are continuing to target learners throughout the country.
Patrick Sebatjane, an offender imprisoned at Nigel Correctional Services, was part of the department’s crime prevention awareness programme, in which offenders interacted with Grade 11 and 12 learners from NN Ndebele Secondary School, educating and sensitising them about the consequences of committing a crime.
