Some criminals released under Second Chance Program shall commit crimes, says the President

President Mohamed Nasheed said today, in his Friday Radio Address, that we simply have to accept the fact that some of the criminals released under the Second Chance Program shall be found committing crimes once they are sent back into the society.

The Second Chance Program has been devised under the special instructions of President Nasheed, in order to give a selected number of convicted criminals serving jail sentences the chance to integrate back into the society and start living as law-abiding citizens.

The President said today that out of the 330 criminals so far released under the program, 149 were employed as planned for the by the government, and that 81 of them had already completed the Skills Program conducted by the government for providing them with vocational training.

“More criminals shall be evicted from prison and brought back into the society under the Second Chance Program. They will have to undergo a 10-day program aimed at rehabilitation and preparing them to lead normal lives, and they shall be kept under the watchful eyes of a guardian”, said the President.

Yet, some of those who are released under the program shall be found committing crimes once they are back in the society, and that is a fact that we have to accept, said the President.

“That is a reality that we all have to face. Not all who are given the second chance would properly use it. However, it has to be known that those who abuse the chance shall face consequences”, the President said. “My request is that as many persons as possible should use this chance to come back to the society”.