Nigerian rapper, Mo Olateru-Olagbegi, popularly known as Mocheddah, has opined that those expressing outrage over the beauty pageant that was held in prison do not know how the prison system works.
In series of post shared on her Insta-stories, Mocheddah enlightened Nigerians that there are daily and yearly activities that the inmates engage in at correctional facilities. She went on to state that the inmates even earn wages while in prison.
She added that these activities helps in decreasing their levels of stress and violence.
In her words,
“Everyone complaining about the prison pageant pageant hasn’t watched orange is the New black. This is far from defending crime, it’s just facts. Until I wantched OTNB, I did not know what went on in r=prisons. It’s a correctional facility that has daily/yearly activities. Inmates even earn wages while in prison. You are only put in solitary confinement if you break prison rules or are in danger (Now this exempts you from any activity at all)”
This comes after Nigerians expressed outrage after photos emerged showing Chidinma Ojukwu, who is standing trial for the murder of Super TV CEO Usifo Ataga, contesting in a beauty pageant with other inmates and emerging as the winner.
Various opinions have been expressed over the events put together to identify with the International women’s day. While some are based on limited knowledge on contemporary penological concept of managing persons in incarceration, others, unfortunately, are mere expressions to vilify the Nigerian Correctional Service in the typical mindset of ‘see nothing good in any Government Agency.’ It is pertinent to note however, that psychosocial services have always been used in crime management circles for different purposes, including solving knotty crimes. Providing emotional stability for inmates and creating convivial atmosphere for them to interact freely, has always catalysed this objective. And rightly put by Olateru-Olagbegi, imprisonment should not turn prisoners to musters or vegetables. The pains of incarceration is the loss of liberty and not human dignity. Both local and international conventions support this and Nigeria shouldn’t be an exception. What is important, I believe, is to ensure that no such activity compromises the course of justice. As I identify with the pains of the Atagas, I also deeply believe that what is upper most in their mind is knowing how their loved one was killed, by who, why and above all, that justice should be speedily served.