In a bid to improve the prison services and welfare of its inmates across Nigeria, Nigerian Prison Services was renamed the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCS) through an Act of Parliament that was enacted in 2019. Thus, in partnership with Carmelite Prisoners’ Interest Organization (a Non-governmental Organization) which has a long standing Memorandum of Understanding with NCS; Astro-PC is targeted at 450 inmates with less than two years to complete their jail terms. Our goal is to inspire, educate and prepare inmates for better life after incarceration; by impacting various astronomy/basic science related skills that can engender human capacity development and peaceful co-existence. Explicitly, our project is aimed at teaching the inmates some basic skills (astro-tourism, snail farming and fish farming) that can help them earn a responsible living. This is in addition to showing them love by offering free medical, legal and psychological services through our team of experts. Using the astronomy concept of Pale-Blue-Dot and other motivational astro-expositions (Solar System, Dark Sky Conservation) as strategic tool, we intend to re-orientate the inmates on the need to embrace responsible lifestyle. Beyond helping inmates to shun crime and live above poverty thereby engendering seamless re-integration into the larger society; our project is also expected to create a team of astronomy enthusiasts amongst inmates who are about to complete their jail terms. Interestingly, we executed a similar project in 2021 and hope to build on the successes recorded earlier (https://capiong.org/astro-prison-project/). It is our belief that the consistency of this project over time will help us to build a financially self-sustaining program that could be scaled-up beyond the shores of Nigeria. To ensure efficiency and effectiveness in knowledge transfer, Astro-PC will adopt: English, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba as major languages of communication since Nigeria is a multi-ethnic society.
Contact: Chukwujekwu Ofodum ofonworah@gmail.com