Controller-General of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Ja’afaru Ahmed, has said reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders were important means of crime prevention and control.

Ahmed also said those means could help in breaking the “vicious cycle of recidivism’’ – committing new offences by ex-offenders, and decongesting prisons.

He made the remarks while presenting aftercare materials (trade tools) to 45 ex-offenders who had served their various jail terms.

They had been trained in different vocations while serving their terms.

The controller-general noted that imprisonment was not all about punishment but transformation of the lives of the inmates to make them better citizens when they returned to the society.

The controller-general distributed barbing, carpentry, welding, hairdressing, tailoring and masonry tools to the ex-offenders.

In another development, the NPS has taken over one of its medical facilities renovated by ALLCO Multi-Shield Health Management Organisation.

The facility known as Henry Akingba Medical Care Centre is located within the premises of the prisons headquarters in Abuja.