Bishop Kayode Williams is the presiding bishop of Christ Vessels of Grace Church Inc. The renowned clergyman who once gained notoriety as an armed robber has since gotten his life back on an even keel. Forty three years after he left prison and got presidential pardon, the Abeokuta-born preacher, who is the Founder of the Prison Rehabilitation Mission International Inc (PREMI), has been serving humanity in various capacities. In this interview with FUNKE COLE, he shares very interesting insights about his commitment to the ideals and ideas of justice, equity and fairness. Excerpts:
You turned 70 years recently so how do you feel clocking the biblical three scores and 10 years?
I feel grateful first of all to my Maker for granting me the rare privilege of reaching the age of 70 years. I could have been a dead man long ago but God spared my life. So, I’m indeed grateful to God. All these favours have lifted my energy and verve to give back to this society that recognised that I deserved a second chance and that I can do better in life. So, I don’t want to sit back and lament that I wasted 10 years of my life in prison. After spending 10 years in prison, I have spent another 43 years outside it today, and I am spending my time in goodness and happiness, transforming lives, engaging people in government to let us work together for the betterment of the country. I mean life can’t be more meaningful than this.
I have assured myself that before my final departure from the surface of the earth I will use the rest of my life serving God and humanity to the best of my ability because as the saying goes, the best work of life is service to humanity. That’s all I want to do.
Looking back now, is there anything you missed growing up?
I don’t want to dwell so much on regrets. No. This is because God Has been kind to me. I believe anything that happens in the life of man is divinely ordained. Old things have passed away, everything else has become new.
PREMI is 43 years old today. Would you say the aims and objectives of the organisation have been fulfilled?
Yes, I would say to the glory of God Almighty, I have been able to really stamp the issue of PREMI, especially prison reforms, in the hearts of so many Nigerians. Achievement is not only in the visible things you do but it is also in terms of impartation. To the glory of God we have been able to change the lives of well over 2500 ex-convicts who are contributing their own quota to the development of the society today.
In a society antagonistic of ex-convicts, how has it been coping with the challenges of managing an organisation of this nature, most especially in the past 43 years?
You see, one of the most difficult things to do as a man who wants to serve humanity is for people to believe in you, give you encouragement and support. Because the first thing that comes to the minds of the generality of our people here is the issue of corruption. If you set up any organisation, the first thing they ask is maybe he’s looking for something to eat? They will not think on the positive side. The battering from poverty and corruption has polluted the minds of the citizenry to support such worthy causes. If I were to be in a country like Denmark, Holland or even England, I would have been celebrated because naturally you will see a lot of people ready to back you up there. I can tell you that here in Nigeria we have lots of people with lofty ideas like myself but with no one ready to offer any help. I’m only waiting for them to give me a shoulder to lean on. But because of the problem of our country, you don’t see a lot of people supporting things like this. There are some people in this country that brought themselves into the limelight with corrupt money and bad influence. I agree that money is a very powerful tool for both evil and for good. I can bet you that the level of poverty we have in this country wouldn’t have gotten to this stage if we did the right thing at the right time. If you ask me now about Nigerians that go to jail, how do we record them? Do the prison institutions themselves have the data? In those days, when we used fingerprints, it was a lot easier but not anymore. The fact is that one of our greatest challenges is getting financial support for our intervention in the correctional centres. It’s so difficult that sometimes people who agree to support end up withholding their support. But I have received divine warning never to be desperate about pursuing support for this cause and therefore I have been very careful myself in making requests for assistance. If I’m desperate, they suspect and if I’m too calm, they will say he didn’t ask. So those are the challenges. The only way we have been getting by is through the goodwill of some public-spirited Nigerians like journalists like you who support us in their own way. Let me also add here that we have lots of people who have been volunteering their time and resources in supporting this noble cause of PREMI within and outside the country apart from those I already mentioned. PREMI has cells in the USA, where Dr. Silas Falokun works as senior personnel at Texas Correctional Centre, Houston Texas, is holding forte, we have representatives as well in the United Kingdom. All these are our own modest way of assisting the cause of humanity.
So how do you manage? I recalled you said you have helped conservatively 2, 500 inmates to get back on their feet and lead normal lives today?
I had really gone so far to solicit and market PREMI. We have been supported by people like Oba Adedapo Tejuosho, Chief Afe Babalola, Justice Oluseun Shogbola, and some others. But you know these are private individuals. We are talking of a more massive support base. All I’m doing between these people and the inmates is serving as a bridge-builder. Sometimes, I go to the prison headquarters to solicit for support in the form of tool kits to get the inmates properly resettled. If you go to the warehouse of the prison centres in Abuja, there you will find all manner of work tools like sewing machines, and many other equipment just lying fallow and not in use or given to those who need them. Each of the states of the federation has their own stores where these tools are warehoused. But these things just rot away there. How many prisoners have they been able to resettle or rehabilitate? It’s not that the federal government is not buying these machines but they’re hoarding them in some cases either deliberately or out of negligence of what to do. There is so much bureaucracy around issues like this. We have to dismantle this bureaucracy for things to move forward. I remember there was a time I moved that we can use these ex-convicts to get gainful employment, for instance to clean the streets and work as farm hands and all that. If you’re going along the expressway to Ore and other places you see thick bushes all over; such places can be given to these inmates as some form of paid employment. If such lands are converted to plantations they can work there and eke out a living for themselves and move away from crimes. We have maximum prisons all over the place but the question to ask is do these maximum prisons still have their own farms? Each prison in advanced countries like England, Denmark, etc. have vocational centres and farm settlements for inmates to engage them and the income they are getting from there will augment whatever they get once to go out of prison to become responsible citizens as they reintegrate themselves back into the society. But in our correctional centres today, most of the inmates are sitting idle eating three times a day and just wasting the taxpayers’ money because we didn’t realise how to engage them into productive ventures. This is sad indeed. Ideally, the federal government shouldn’t be given monthly allocation to the Nigerian Prisons again because they should be able to generate their own resources by themselves as it is done in other places.
You have since earned the title of Mr. Prison Reforms. Why are you so passionate about prisons?
Experience as they say is the best teacher. You cannot trade experience for inexperience at all. My belief is that if criminals and felons can be encouraged to lead a new lease of life they can be better citizens. I know for a fact that prisoners often come from very poor sections of society and are more likely to have low levels of education, disrupted and chaotic family lives, be unemployed, or to live on the streets. Many are dependent on illegal drugs and alcohol and have no reliable social networks. That is where the 4Rs prison reforms come in: rehabilitation, reformation, reintegration and resettlement initiatives.
If the goal of rehabilitation is not given adequate attention by prison authorities, these risk factors will not be addressed and there is a risk of re-offending. Steady employment is one of the best guarantees against re-offending. Contact with – and support from – family and community are important for successful reintegration. Many prison systems do not help prisoners to prepare for their release. In order to be successful, rehabilitation should begin at the start of the sentence and continue after release. I also know that parole can act as a strong incentive for prisoners to work towards release, but many criminal justice systems do not allow for it. Stigma attached to imprisonment can seriously damage the chance of Rehabilitation, Reformation, Reintegration and Resettlement, in particular the chance of finding employment. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted in 1966, states that: ‘The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation.’ The revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners also stress the importance of conditions favourable to reintegration. They state that the duty of society does not end with a prisoner’s release and call for efficient after-care to be provided to released prisoners.
Our work at PREMI is to promote prison systems where the primary purpose is rehabilitation not retribution. We encourage and support the development of programmes for effective rehabilitation and preparation for release, with the aim of reducing re-offending, protecting society and rebuilding lives. We also promote rehabilitative-based non-custodial sanctions. We advocate for penal policies that focus on Rehabilitation, Reformation, Reintegration and Resettlement and provide for effective and gender-sensitive programmes inside prisons, during non-custodial sanctions and after release. We work with national governments, criminal justice professionals and civil society organisations to develop Rehabilitation, Reformation, Reintegration and Resettlement programmes inside and outside prisons to support offenders to lead law-abiding lives on release. We build the capacity of prison authorities and staff to recognise and address the rehabilitation needs of prisoners in their care and prepare them for release. We run training workshops and develop training materials which reflect international standards and regional contexts and include a focus on the Rehabilitation, Reformation, Reintegration and Resettlement of prisoners and ex-offenders.
You signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Prof. Ishaq Akintola of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) recently. What informed that?
You know he joined PREMI as a member of the board of Trustee recently. I actually extended a hand of fellowship to him because I see that we share the same vision about a better Nigeria. We share quite a lot in common. He also turned 70 years on July 10th, 2023. I remember he told me that he is still my senior even if we are just some weeks apart. I used to read about his activities and I see his sincerity of purpose. We may not be on the same page along religious lines but we are both committed to serving humanity. When I called on him the way he responded really encouraged me and we met and the rest as they say is history. He is a Muslim and I’m a Christian but we’re both working to ensure that the prisons are reformed because our prisons are not built for only Christians, pagans or Muslims. The prisons are for everybody. Irrespective of the faiths people profess they can become inmates of prison if they run afoul of the law. I can see his passion and he can see my passion hence we decided to work together to raise the awareness about prison life amongst our congregations and circle of followers and things are working fine. On my birthday, he was in attendance at the church where he spoke about his commitment towards prison reforms. As I said, I have been blessed by God beyond all measures even when I’m not deserving of such, and this is why I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life towards this cause. I believe the society we live in can be better served if we continue to perform our civic duties and responsibilities wherever we find ourselves. That is what I believe will make us positively impact our community. So, this is a clarion call for all of us.