Lagos — The Federal Government has been implored to introduce measures that will improve the living conditions of prisoners and ex-convicts in the country.

Making the appeal in Lagos at the end of a special meeting of the executive council members of the Prison Rehabilitation Ministry International (PRE-MI), the Chairman of the Governing Council of the organisation, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, Osile of Oke-Ona, Abeokuta, Ogun State, observed that there was an urgent need for government to outline a programme of action on prison reforms and rehabilitation of ex- convicts.

The monarch, who recently returned from a visit to Brixton Prison, London, said the trip afforded him an opportunity to observe at close range the condition of prisoners in the United Kingdom, adding that _with what I saw at the prison there, there is a need for prison reforms in the country. At Brixton Prison, prisoners were being helped to start a new life through series of rehabilitation programmes they undertake.

They receive classes in literacy, numeracy and computing, and in spite of their incarceration, they were happy._

Oba Tejuosho, who was accompanied on the trip by the Director-General of PREMI, Pastor Kayode Williams urged government and members of the society to develop a new orientation towards prisoners and ex-convicts.

He further advocated that prisoners and ex-convicts were well-rehabilitated to make it possible for them to play important roles in the socio-economic develpoment of the nation.

_Ex-convicts should be rehabilitated in such a way that they don_t make them to feel as if they are criminals, who should be ostracized. Rather, they should be accommodated in such a way that they can use their talents for the development of the society,_ he stated.

Also speaking at the occasion, Pastor Kayode Williams appealed to government and non- governmental organisations to regard the welfare of prisoners as a necessity.