After his release, he allegedly committed the most heinous crime; murder. There is nothing wrong with presidential pardon or parole. We believe these are based on consistent good conduct of the prisoner while he or she is in incarceration. In fact, the whole process of prison is to mould and rehabilitate the prisoner so that he or she can then be sent back into society as a changed person. Prison is not just an asylum to deprive wrongdoers of their freedom or and institute to administer punishment.
The other core duty of prison is to rehabilitate. This explains why some former prisoners later become shining examples in their communities. This notwithstanding, it is important that former convicts who are given remission to go back into mainstream society are fully assessed prior to their release. Even after their release they should continue to be monitored. As a society, we ought to appreciate that former convicts have to be reaccepted into a society, which might not be easy after spending long periods in confinement. They need coping mechanisms as some members of society might look at them askance or they will still be characterised as wrongdoers even after they have served their time.In other instances, some prisoners leave prison with very little capacity to cope thus posing a danger to society. It is not enough to just throw former convicts to society without knowing whether they will pose a danger or not. Some of these former prisoners may have been convicted for serious offences such as rape, child molestation, armed robbery and other forms of violent crime. While there are raging ethical questions about whether the rights and privacy of these individuals will be violated if their identity is exposed, there is still a good case to be made for keeping a register to be periodically inspected by the public. This should be done to ensure that dangerous elements in a specific community are known and monitored. Take the case of a known serial child molester who is released from prison and unleashed into a community without forewarning.
