For society to get it right in rehabilitating criminals, the first thing to be put in place is a working criminal justice system. If there is a lack of needed law in society, then crime becomes a norm. There could be a law on paper but when its implementation is not done properly, it can be likened to a lack of it.
If you enter many prisons today, especially in Nigeria, you will meet a reasonable percentage of the inmates awaiting trial for a period that is already longer than the maximum jail term that would have been handed to them if the trial was done and they were found guilty. The worst happens when such an inmate is acquitted of the alleged crime he was accused of committing. Who pays him for the wasted time? That kind of person could come back to society to become a worse criminal. He could decide to now indulge in all those acts that he was wrongly accused of.
Another instance is when an innocent person is wrongly found guilty and sentenced for allegedly committing a crime. The probability of such a person returning from prison as a hardened criminal is high. Rehabilitating such a person becomes nearly impossible.
The state of our prisons now referred to as correctional centers is another thing to ponder about.
Prison is supposed to build a criminal into a better person who would become an agent of change upon finishing his prison term. However, it's unfortunate that many prison experiences achieved the opposite. Prisoners are treated with disdain. They are not properly fed. In some instances, a prison cell meant for three inmates is occupied by more than 10 inmates. All these harsh experiences make many prisoners more involved in crime after their release from prison than when they entered.
Once these challenges are addressed, we can now holistically talk about the true rehabilitation of criminals.
I would like to start with murderers. Many nations are kicking against the death sentence. They are calling for it to be replaced with life imprisonment. Countries in their numbers have yielded to this and abolished death penalties from their criminal justice system. I support death penalties for anyone who is found by the Supreme Court of the land to have willingly killed another person. Such a person shouldn't be allowed to continue living with others again.
As for armed robbers, fraudsters, and kidnappers, they should be handed life imprisonment and anywhere such activity leads to death, the culprits should be sentenced to death. This is very important because some criminals can hardly change. I read recently how a so-called repentant terrorist became an informant for the terrorist group. This was someone who was rehabilitated by the government in the guise that he wouldn't be going back into terrorism. He couldn't just stay out of the crime because such a crime is more of an ideology that can hardly be done away with once initiated into it.
For other crimes that the law considers as not deserving of life imprisonment or death penalties, the sentenced criminals should return to society after their prison term. While in prison, values should be added to their lives in the form of teaching them skills or having those interested in education enroll in some unconventional learning opportunities available. When they come out of prison, there is every possibility for them to have something to depend on in living their lives away from crimes. In such instances, it becomes a win-win situation for the state and the inmates.
To help a criminal change, it should be done in love. It should also be noted that crimes are of different magnitude. Some criminals can easily be rehabilitated while others can't. The judicial system should be fortified against corruption and inefficiency so that an innocent person isn't held as a criminal while the real criminal is walking freely in the street.