Background of the study

A prison is a place/space used to confine criminal or people convicted or awaiting trial. It includes the land, the house and every other structure located within the institution used for the purpose of detention. This led to the establishment of the first prison administration modeled on British tradition, and staffed by officers trained in the same tradition when the then Governor, H.S. Freeman, in 1862, was commissioned, inter-alia, to appoint judges and other officers. Hence, the Broad Street Prison was built in Lagos in 1872, but the prison ordinance providing for the establishment of prison was passed along with the Supreme Court ordinance in 1876. Therefore, the prisons administration in Nigerian started in 1876, when the prison ordinance came into force. But, from 1876 to 1920, the police department ran it. However, by 1920, the police ceased to be in-charge of prisons administration in Nigeria [1,2].

Prison Decree number 9 of 1972 governs the creation of a prison in Nigeria, and sections 2 (1) and (11) state that [3]:

• The commissioner may, by orders in the Federal gazette, declare any building or place in Nigeria to be a prison, and by the same or subsequent orders, specify the area for which the prison is established.

• Every prison shall include:

a) The ground and buildings within the prison enclosure.

b) Any lock-up house for the temporary detention or custody of prisoners newly apprehended or those under remand which is declared by the Commissioner, by order in the Federal Gazette, to be part of the prison.

A prison is a place delimited and declared as such by the law of the state and created to ensure restrained and custody of individuals accused or convicted of violating the criminal laws of the state. That is to say, civil prisoners and debtors, prisoners-of-war and state detainees, are also received and kept in the prison.

For the purposes of administration, there are five classes of prisons in Nigeria today, namely:

• Convicted prisons,

• Divisional prisons,

• Provincial prisons,

• Lock-ups,

• Prison camps.

The Nigerian Prison Services (NPS) is an indispensable Department of the Federal Ministry of Interior and is headed by a Comptroller- General of prisons. The Nigerian Prisons Service is administered by the Custom, Immigration and Prisons Services Board (hereinafter) referred to as the (C.I.P.B) located at Gwagwalada in Abuja. It was established by the CIPB Decree No. 14 of July 11, 1986 and inaugurated by Col. John N. Shagaya, the then Honorable Minister of Internal Affairs, now known as Ministry of Interior (and Chairman of the CIPB) on October 17^th 1986. However, right from the inception of the board, there seems to be palpable disenchantment among officers and men of the Nigeria Prisons Services due to cases of prison congestion, inadequate funding of prison, flaw on the extant prison laws, and lack of rehabilitative and correctional equipment in the Nigeria prison.

Therefore, the research is aimed at investigating the existence of the above problems in Nigeria Prisons with a view to making recommendations that may bring the problems to an end. The broad objective of the study is to conduct an investigation into the prison administration in Nigeria: A study Nigeria Prison. The specific objectives are as follows:

• To ascertain the extent to which prison congestion in Nigeria Prison poses a serious constraint to effective prison administration:

• To find out the extent funding has affected on the administration of Nigeria Prisons.

• To verify the extent to which lack of rehabilitation and correctional equipment in Nigeria prison headquarters constitutes a constraint to rehabilitation of inmates.

An in-depth assessment of research carried by Osondi [4-6] indicate that there is ever-increasing problems of prison administration, like poor funding, prison congestion and the failure of the extant prison laws to address the major objective for establishing prison and rehabilitation of the prison inmates. This has continued to constitute a cog in the wheel of success in the Nigeria prisons. The funding of the system has been on the decline, coupled with continued increase of prison inmates, leading to prison congestion. The prison administration has equally been confronted with cases of corruption among few high ranking officers, not minding the small resources made available for the management of the prison by the federal government. Staff, especially the rank and file, (non-commissioned officers) is becoming disgruntled in the discharge of their duties as a result of lack of incentive to boost their morale. The prison system, which ideally should have been solely for correction of prison inmates through counseling, rehabilitations and reform of inmates, has today, become a breeding ground for hardened criminals who become worse than they were when they got into prison. This could be attributed to the over emphasis on punishment and not rehabilitation by the act that established prison system.

The above situations have impacted negatively on the general prison service and Nigeria prison in particular.

In this chapter, a review of the related literature was conducted. This implies that contributions of other scholars on general prison administration, especially as it affects perceived areas of constraints in the Nigeria’s Prisons Service were reviewed. The review was conducted under the following sub-heading: Empirical Review, background history of the Nigerian Prison Service; the practice of imprisonment in the early days, cost of imprisonment in Nigeria, typical prison facilities in Nigeria, available records on prison congestion in Nigeria, poor sanitary and medical facilities in Nigerian Prisons, feeding in Nigeria Prisons, rehabilitative and educational programs in Nigeria Prisons, Extant laws on Prisons, and Summary of Literature Review.

Prison reform in Nigeria

Eze MC [7,8] in his study “institution reforms and the development of Nigeria Prisons Service, 1999-2007” publish in a journal of African studies and development, conducted a descriptive research on the7 general prison administration. “He recalled that Nigeria as a country has experienced over twenty nine years of military rule”. Consequently,the Nigeria Prisons where nothing less than a concentration camp were democrats, civil right activists and some social deviants suffered. The emergence of civilian rule in 1999 with promises both to restore human right and rule of law and to reform the justice system of which the prisons are part of, led to the appropriation of billions of naira into the sector. He conducted an overview of the Nigeria Prison Service and its reform using documentary and primary source of information with a view to assessing the extent of its consistency with international standard and its impact on both prison inmates and the institution itself.

Ogundipe [9] cited by Eze [8] stated that the Nigeria Prison Service was exacerbated by the dominant military leadership which Nigeria has experienced since independence. The military in its twenty nine (29) years of political leadership sees the prison as a punitive institution and thus not give it any attention as to develop its infrastructural and conditions. He noted further that the military did periodically visit the prisons but only to make sure that those they had detained were not allowed any measure of “comfort”. The population of inmates under them (that is, the military era) became elastic that the capacity of each prison became tortuous; it served the purpose of the military regime very well. Ogundipe maintained that the “detainees were held in squalid and congested cells without adequate medical care, food supplies or water and often with some outbreak of diseases, environmental degradation, and an increased mortality rate among inmates” [9,10]. The condition of prisons staff were worst than any other government agency as at that time. The prison staff was looked as prisoners also. Most of the prison branches or sections around the country did not have a single official moving vehicle while the very few that had vehicles, found it difficult to maintain them due to poor funding. The institution had no befitting corporate headquarters before 1999. Ojukwu and Briggs (2005) posit that the “prison system in Nigeria is one of the most under developed institutions in the criminal justice sector. No new prison have been constructed in more than forty years and the prison population continue to grow”, changed the state of infrastructure and logistics, have introduced prison service best practices and have positively altered the conditions of prison inmates and workers. During the collection of data and analysis, the study-explored the avalanche of materials existing in the areas of reforms and prisons service most especially on the prisons in Europe and American continent for the purpose of establishing prison best practices. The proportionately distributed as follows: twenty (20) questionnaires to officers and one hundred and five (105) questionnaires to the inmates of each of the prisons). Eze concluded his study that Nigeria prison services Reform are practically anti-best practices. His findings were premised on the fact on the outcome of the study which revealed as follows:

• That the Nigeria prison service has more number of prison inmates awaiting trail.

• That the Nigeria prison service has high level of human principles for the treatment of offenders. He maintained that those are yet to be convicted are treated inhumanly like criminals while in detention.

Based on the above statement, Ho1 is formed.

Ho1: The congestion in Nigeria Prisons does pose constraint to the effective prison administration.

History of Nigeria prison

The administration of prison, like any other organization, involves management functions. It embraces the external relationships of the elements and processes. Since these are all human activities, administration or management is about human relationship. It cannot therefore be assigned to the boss and forgotten by everyone else.

Therefore, for effective prison administration Elias, [11,12] wrote that “there are five (5) classes of prison in Nigeria, namely convict prisons, divisional, provincial, lock-up prisons and prisons camps”. A convict prisons receives all classes of prisoners, that is both long and short sentence, condemned criminals and those of them gazette as asylums. It also receives lunatics: examples of such prisons include Enugu, Jos, Warri and Port Harcourt prisons.

A divisional prison is of administrative creative and not statutory, examples are Uyo, Ikot-Ekpene, Afikpo and Agbor. Such prisons are under the command of either superintendents or assistant superintendents, in addition to a number of Divisional prisons and camps. The status of most of these prisons has changed, owing to the reorganization that took place around 1995.

Our laws, therefore, emphasize the primitive aspect. The prisoner has offended the state and the state exacts legal sanction on him as prison officers regard the restriction of the personal freedom of the prisoners as enough punishment, and any emphasis on it will conflict with the idea of reformation, which is the vital consideration in the modern treatment of offenders (Prison inmates).

Deterrence imprisonment serves to deter both the prisoner and the public at large. Everybody dreads deprivation of liberty, however; short-offence imprisonment terrifies the majority of people and tends to make them better law-abiding citizens. There is specific deterrence, which brings punishment personally to the convict and with the hard unnatural life in prison with the law.

Based on this assertion, Ho2 is formed.

Ho2: Inadequate funding of prisons by federal government does not constitute an impediment to effective administration of Nigeria Prison.

Protection of the society in most cases is temporary as the society is only secured from the menace of the prisoner when he is in the prison. But when he returns to the society, the danger of his return to crime arises. But permanent protection is achieved where the prisoners are reformed and rehabilitate on discharge. A most successful and permanent protection is achieved by executing the convict as in the case of armed robbers in Nigeria and capital cases. Opinions and legislation on capital punishment all over the world are varied. The aim can only be achieved if the period of imprisonment is used by the administrator to ensure, so far as possible, that upon his return to the society the offender is not only willing but able to leave a law abiding and self-supporting life. To this end, the administrator should utilize the entire remedial, educational, moral, spiritual and other forces and forms of assistance which are appropriate and available and should seek to apply them according to the individual treatment needs of the prisoners.

We have to reform the prisoners by good example, inculcating in them the habit of good conduct, proper fueling, and bring other forces as vocational, moral and spiritual training to bear on them so that, if the prison administration is designed to protect society against its dangerous and mischievous elements, its first duty after securing the safe custody of the offender is to ensure at least that a man emerging from prison is no more depraved than when he entered it.

Based on the following statements, Ho3 is formed.

Ho3: Inadequate funding of prisons by Federal government constitutes an impediment to effective administration of Nigeria Prison.

The practice of imprisonment in the early days

Adeyemi, [13,14] in his contribution looked at the price of imprisonment in the early days. His views were rather aimed at finding out the bases of imprisonment. To him,

Before the advent of the British, people who had breached the laws of the society were subjected to hanging, beheading, maiming, stoning, drowning, burning alive, ostracism, exile, and fine and in other cases, humiliation. There were specific penalties following certain offences such as fines for stealing, a death sentence for unlawful homicide, exile for in-cast.

Cost of imprisonment in Nigeria

Another area of concern is cost of imprisonment in Nigeria. It is on these bases that records of other scholars on same were reviewed. To this effect, a report and recommendations of prison adviser for the reorganization of prison in 1985 were summarized as follows: that maintaining prisons is a burden on the society. Apart from the fact that government’s meager resources are expended on housing, clothing and feeding an idle population of law breakers, inmates face physical, emotional and psychological deprivation involved in the loss of family, as well as occupational and command contracts. Imprisonment, therefore, leads to psychological, social, emotional, and financial deprivation for spouse and children.

Based on this assertion, Ho4 is formed.

Ho4: The Nigeria extant laws on prisons have not impacted negatively on the administration of Nigeria prisons.

The report equally highlighted the need for prison reform, stressing that prison congestion, extant prisons laws are among issues that needed to be addressed in the Nigeria Prison Service. The problems of prison congestion and offender recidivism in Nigeria calls for a closer look at the operation of the entire criminal justice system, particularly in the area of treatment of offenders. Research in Nigeria indicates the existence of deficiencies in the prison system, which calls for urgent attention. The need for practical reform of prisoners relates to the fact that imprisonment has not been particularly deterrent instrument and the practice is most often dysfunctional or counter-productive. It affects both the incarcerated individual and the wider society.

The tax payers bear the cost of our prison system. To illustrate with a random sample, the total sum of N37, 363,632,215.00 was allocated to the prison service in 2006 and 2007. Out of this sum, N7, 634,412,277.00 was meant for inmate welfare and prison cottage industries. The whole sum is an enormous burden on the Nigeria tax payers, although ironically too small to meet the full objectives of imprisonment. (Proposed amendment of prison act: 2010).

Based on this assertion, Ho5 is formed.

Ho5: The Nigeria extant laws on prisons have impacted negatively on the administration of Nigeria prisons.

Prison facilities in Nigeria

Review was conducted on the typical prison facilities in Nigeria. The aim is to have knowledge of what other scholars have written about some prisons and whether that reflects an ideal prison. This will help in assessing Nigeria prison. Accordingly, Alexander [15,16] wrote the following on typical prison in Nigeria.

Kirikiri: Since Nigeria independence, there have been persistent complainants against the congestion of prison in the country. The penal system never has, this has been adequately provided with physical facilities. Only in Lagos area has there been any modern construction, but even the planning of the complex at Apapa has been hindered by shortage of funds. By 1969, the Kirikiri prison complex was operating with a daily population of nearly 150 percent of what it was originally designed to contain. The Apapa (KiriKiri) prison was designed in 1962. The maximum security establishment has a 6m perimeter-wall, the administrative block integrated into the gatehouse and providing a visitor room. A two-storage hospital wing has a large ward, a surgery and nursing accommodation. The assembly hall in the center of the prison, with adjacent rooms, forms the focus of official social life of the prisoner; lecturers and classes other meetings and religious service all take place there. The living and working accommodations make up eight-association block; four-cell block plus an execution cell-block and nine workshops, throughout the prisons. The medium security establishment is similar but of smaller design and without the complication of an execution block. It is worth noting that most of these structures, facilities and equipment in all the prisons have remained unadorned and stabilized for the last two decades.

Kakuri prison camp: The prison camp at Kakuri, south of Kaduna, is rapidly becoming a model farm center, similar to others establishment spread in some states of the federation. There is every reason to believe that agricultural training establishment operated under the minimum-security conditions has a great part to play in future prison development in Nigeria. The layout of the Kakuri open prison is ordinarily different from that of a closed institution like the maximum-security set-up at Kirikiri. The prison at Kakuri is laid out in an undulating atmosphere.

Funding of prisons

During the review of the cost of imprisonment in Nigeria, we did mention that Nigerians over the decades have made calls for general prison reform owing to poor funding of the Nigeria prison service. The calls are aimed at putting the Nigeria prison service on the part of adhering to international standards in the treatment of prisoners by improving on the funding and ensure human resource development. A recent surveys conducted by UNODC [17] indicated that poor funding of the Nigeria prison service largely affect the development of the human resources capacity within the Nigeria prison service (NPS). This made them embark on project aimed at implementing a project focused on the development of the human resources capacity within the Nigeria prison service. This is because; better management capacity of the prisons will create an enabling environment for the improved treatment of prisoners. UNODC [18], the primary objective of this project is to build the capacity of the Nigeria prison service to comply with United Nation Standards and norms for the management. This is to be achieved by building leadership capacity development. This is being funded through the United Kingdom government, the common wealth office on human right and democracy.

• Task forces drown from government agencies have been formed with the basic objective of:

• Mobilizing development partners to address critical challenge facing prison.

• Assist in mobilizing donor funding for development for improvement of Nigeria prison service operation.

• Work toward future increase in government funding/ allocation. Therefore, the survey that resulted to the formation of this task force specially mentioned that the Nigeria prison service is not well funded and called for improved funding.

Chukwumerije in his proposal for the commandment of 1972 prison act states between 2006 and 2007 the total sum of Thirty Seven Billion three hundred and sixty three million, six hundred and thirty, two thousand, and two hundred and fifteen naira. (N37, 363,632,215.00) was allocated to the Nigeria prison service between 2006 and 2007. Out of the stated amount, only Seven billion, Six Hundred and Thirty Four Million, Four Hundred and Twelve Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy-seven Naira (N7, 634,412,277.00) was meant for inmate’s welfare and cottage industries. He concluded that the above sum is too paltry compared to the number of prison imamates estimated at over fifty thousand.

Based on this assertion, Ho6 is formed:-

Research Hypotheses:

Ho6: Lack of correctional facilities for rehabilitation of offenders in Nigeria Prison is positively related to the increasing cases of recidivism among prison inmates.

Records on prison congestion in Nigeria

Available records from the federal ministry of interior indicate that Nigeria prisons are congested. According to Ali, [19,20] under normal circumstance, our 123 prisons, 244 lock-up facilities and 2 bobstays should cater for 26,000 inmates instead of 41,000. Also, Craig, (1995), called for an immediate solution to prison congestion in the country.

He declared that a physical examination of the prisons in the country showed that they were erected during the colonial era and were intended for only a handful of prisoners. He added that most of the buildings had become totally inadequate for present-day requirements that in consequence, prisoners now sleep on the bare floor and others share single bed. He had cause to regret when he stated that the Shagaamu prison, for example, which was designed for 49 prisoners, contain 117 inmates as at the end of January 1983, whereas the Ilaro prison had 259 prisoners instead of the 126 it was supposed to accommodate, thus accommodating more than 100% of its original capacity.

The forty eight (48) prisons, which formed the major federal prison system before 1966, today incarcerate an intake of well-over 75,000 prisoners a year. About half of these inmates are received under sentence of imprisonment following criminal conviction: slightly less than half of these are on remand, usually awaiting trial, with a small percentage as debtors. Until recent years, the intake included a number of persons committed for safe custody on the ground of insanity.

Biadu, [21-25] disclosed that the Kaduna prison was congested. He stated that there were 1,388 prisoners at the prison as against 547 (about 120%, over subscribed). The situation in Kaduna prison is typical of what obtains in other prisons throughout the country. Congestion has for long been a regular feature of the nation’s prison. There are many prison inmates who have been on remand for more than the period they normally would serve, if they were jailed in the first place. There are many trivial offences, which do not justify prison terms.

Based on this statement, Ho7 is formed:

Ho7: Lack of correctional facilities for rehabilitation of offenders in Nigeria Prison is positively related to the increasing cases of recidivism among prison inmates.

The record further indicated that more than 45,000 Nigerians are now over-crowding the various prisons in the country. This figure is about 20,000 in excess of the number of prisoners, the prison were originally designed to accommodate. According to the Daily Times on December 1st 1982, “out of 45,000 people locked behind the bars, more than 15,000 of them are awaiting trials, some for more than nine years. About 500 others are detained, while more than 2,000 were given option of fine but could not pay such fine” reports from all over the country indicates that the congestion is most acute in jailhouses situated in the cities.

He further maintained that, the Kano Central Prison (Gidan Yari) which was designed for 690 inmates, now has than 1,680 inmates locked behind the bars, while the Enugu prison hold about 1,405 detainees with 767 inmates above the number that should be accommodated. The congestion in the various Nigeria prisons has resulted, on many occasions, in outbreaks of epidemics (Onitsha prison faced small pox infection) and the prison riot sometimes leading to death and frequent jailbreak. The most recent of such is the jailbreak that took place in Enugu prison last May, 2009 and that of Bauchi prison were the prison was attacked by members of Boko Haram. The prison at Ilorin had so far witnessed two prison riots in a matter of five months; the hottest being on the 17^th of May, 1983, when a total of 7-armed robbers, convicted to the gallows escaped.

Nigeria prison shares the problem of over-crowding with the British counter-parts, with additional problems arising from their physical structure. Even in the United States of America, prisons, did not work-out as planned right now, they use to exist individual prison systems (That have been condemned by several courts in the United States) where prisons populations have nearly doubled since 1970. In 1992, 12.1% increase was the fastest in the country. A report in the time magazine issued in 13/9/93 has observed that, the inmates nationwide has been growing “by more than 170 a day, and during the next few weeks will probably edged over 400,000; not quite haft consists of black people with about 4% women”.

At the current rate of growth, coupled with level of militancy and kidnapping in the Niger-Delta and part of South Eastern Zone, the number of inmates would double again by 2020. On 29th December 2009, about 30 kidnappers were remanded in Imo prison by the court awaiting indefinite trial.

Several eminent jurists have commented about the over congestion American prison, for example, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, was known to have said that the over crowdedness in American prison faces violet inmates “explosion” if federal, state and local authority do not work jointly to defuse them. In his annual year-end report on the United State legal system, Warren Burger had called for a national correctional policy particularly during times of rapidly increasing prisoner’s populations and prison overcrowding [26,27].

Poor sanitary and medical factices in Nigerian prison

Another important area of concern in our prisons service is hygiene. When 100 people live in a room meant for four, the amount of oxygen is reduced considerably. The stuffy atmosphere breeds microscope organisms and these, in turn spread diseases. It amounts to committing “local apartheid” if we fail to remind the Nigerian government that the horrors of prison life include sleeping on bare cement ground by at least 70% of convicted prisoners, absence of proper hygienic conditions which, in turn, endangers the lives of staff and convict alike, undue delay of justice by the court, locking up of insane people who would be prone to injuring themselves and others, while they stay without medical attention, and finally, improper ventilation of cells more especially the awaiting trails-cell.

Feeding in Nigeria prison

There have been wide complaints about the poor feeding of the prisoners, and the prisoners are generally fed with some unbalanced diet such as garri with sugar, boiled cassava with palm-oil, rice, yams, beans with garri and some other local food stuffs on the assumption that prisoners do not need a balanced diet, the Nigeria law reform commission carried out a nation-wide survey where respondents were asked why they “think the prisoners do not receive good food”. Some 50% representing ninety six respondents (n:96) maintained that prisoners have not been having good feeding, while 45% respondents representing seventy seven (n:77) agreed that prisoners receive good feeding. About 39% representing, sixty eight respondents (n:68) attribute the lack of good feeding to poor quality, while another 3% representing fifty one respondents (n:51) do not find any of the following reasons applicable, namely (i) poor quality, (ii) irregular meal and (iii) small quality approximately 12% representing twenty respondents (n:20) maintained that the trends within the society and the annual cost of feeding alone of not less than N10,800 per person. And then, if we were to compute the cost security and staffing, we may arrive at a staggering figure of about N20, 000 per prisoner/detainee per annum, and when one multiplies this by some 75,000 prisoners/ detainees, the figures could be extremely daunting [28-31].

Rehabilitative and educational programmes in our prisons

In view of the fact that part of the objective of the work is to appraise the rehabilitative nature of Nigeria prison, available records on what impact rehabilitation until have made in other prisons were reviewed so as to relate them to Nigeria prison. Therefore, lecture manual, (1973:15), show that educational classes began in prisons as one of the post-war developments over forty years ago. A small beginning was made at the broad street in Lagos, in conjunction with the local education authorities.

Selected prisoners with more than six month left to serve were allocated to classes, and basic literacy teaching was given for upwards to twelve hours a week. Standardized examinations were to keep a check on their progress. By the mid-1950’s some of the early anticipated fears had been overcome and between 1955 and 1956, two qualified teachers were appointed to the prison service for the first time in Nigeria. At the same time, teaching hours were reduced so as not to interfere with the working day and with assistance of prison officers and selected prisoners, teaching was regularized to one hour a day. By the end of the decade, facilities had expanded, further, seven teachers had been appointed, prison officers and prisoners continued to act as aides and evening classes were given in all the large prisons. The Ilesha prison recorded, from 1959 to 1960, a sixty percent success sequel to graduation of students.

It was in 1960, with the opening and development of the Kakuri open center, that higher educational facilities began to grow. Commercial education was given up to Royal society of Arts examination level and individual pupils were prepared by voluntary teachers and senior officers for the ordinary level G.C.E. Examination. By 1964, the open prison was reporting its highest number of passes in the R.S.A and G.C.E. ordinary and advanced level. Some prisoners had qualified to enter university and the Kakuri open prison, now permanently staffed, had been approved by the then Northern Nigeria Ministry of education for the awarding of standard six certificates.

Notwithstanding, recidivism is one of the yardsticks for judging the effectiveness of the prison system and its reformative capability is the number of inmates who remain outside the prison wall after completing their terms of imprisonment. Statistics from 19 prisons across Nigeria shows that over 60% of inmates are recidivists, i.e. inmates who have been convicted more than once. This is an indication that the prison and the best interests of Nigerians are not satisfactorily served by the Nigerian Prison System. It could therefore be deduced that, the rehabilitative aspect of the Nigeria is just a policy without legal backing. This has resulted to lack of well equipped rehabilitation centre in all the Nigeria Prison Chukwumerije (2014).

Extant laws on Nigerian prison

The management of the Nigeria Prison Service is predicated on the Nigeria Prison Act of 1972. However, a close look at the act indicates that there are some flaws in the act which failed to address some antisocial behavior of inmates. It was on this premise that the 6^th National Assembly commenced the amendment of the 1972 Prison act with a view to amending the flaws. Part of the proposed act read thus:

The purposes of this proposed amendment are due to the following reasons: - Inadequacy of the Prison Act; inadequacy of the structure, to which the Act gave birth. The Prison Act is out dated, unable to define the purposes of imprisonment, silent on the crucial service of reformation/rehabilitation, and archaic in its concept of revenue mobilization. The resultant structure is inadequate. It focuses on retributive/punitive aspect of imprisonment, to the near total neglect of its rehabilitative/reformative demands.

Rehabilitation of offenders addresses among other State obligations the welfare, reformation and re-orientation of prisoners, with a view to re-integrating them into mainstream behavior. However, Prisons act (1972) does not address this situation.

The Prison Act merely touches the surface of the important area of the welfare of prisoners in the following sections:-

Section 8 – The removal of sick prisoners to the hospital;

Regulation 22 – Prisoners diet;

Regulation 25 – Prisoners bedding;

Regulation 28 – Prisoners cleanliness.

No section of the Act addresses the vital issue of rehabilitation, reformation and re-orientation. Thus, the existing Prison Act is not comprehensive enough to serve the purposes of imprisonment. Neither does it fulfill the provision of 1999; the Nigeria Prison System emphasizes importance of custody over rehabilitation and, most importantly, sees imprisonment as solely implementing retributive sanctions rather than complementing sentence with rehabilitation. But this is only a policy: it is not backed by the force of law. This lack of legal backing is a grave omission. It abandons the key issues of rehabilitation and welfare to the subjective vagaries of corporate competences or incompetence of willing prison houses. In the word of Adewele AA (1983:62), some identified flaws in our laws include:

“No Explicit Statement on Rehabilitation: In Nigeria penal system, the aims of imprisonment have not been clearly laid down in form of statute. Enhanced Staff Welfare: A Motivational Tool for Increased Efficiency”. This argument is supported by the empirical observation. Statistics reveal that only a miniscule percentage of our prison population is involved in programs of rehabilitation hence, it is not statutory but a policy which is subject to change.

Theoretical framework

The study adopted deterrence theory as its theoretical framework. The theory was propounded during the Anglo Saxon Era. The theory is based on the concept that if the consequences of committing a crime outweigh the benefit of the crime itself, the individual will be deterred from committing the crime. This is founded in the idea that all individuals are aware of the difference between rights and wrong and the consequences associated with wrong or criminal behavior.

Summary of literature review

Having gone through the literature review, it could be seem that there are many cases of prison congestion in Nigeria as contained in the literature review and other managerial inadequacies. However, this research work will in addition to already existing literature, find out the existence of prison congestion in Nigeria prisons, investigate the availability of rehabilitation facilities, review the funding of Nigeria prisons, and finally, the impact of extant prison laws on the general prison administration with a view to providing workable solution to the policy makers.

This chapter deals with the methods adopted in conducting the research so as to accomplish the objectives of the study earlier stated in chapter one. Issues discussed include: the research method, the research design, population of the study, the study area, sources of data collection, instrument of data collection, test of validity, reliability as well as techniques for data analysis.

Research questions

a) How does prison congestion pose serious constraint to effective prison administration in Nigeria?

b) Does inadequate funding constitute an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria?

c) Has the extant law on prison in Nigeria impacted negatively on prison administration in Nigeria?

d) Does the inadequacy of correctional and rehabilitative equipment have constrained efforts at correction and rehabilitation of prison inmates?

Scope of the study

The study is on the Prison Administration in Nigeria: A study of Nigeria Prisons and accordingly, the scope of the work are limited to Nigeria the result of this study could apply to other prisons in the world. The study covers the selected departments of the prison and the samples are personnel under the administrative sphere of Nigeria prison, and the inmates.

Limitations of the study

This study was limited by a number of factors. The researcher is faced with time constraint, impact study required long period of time to gather data. This is not at the disposal of the researcher as the project audience may falsify data or out rightly refuse to participate in the study. However, these constraints did not hamper the success of the study. There is lack of data base, scarcity of books on prison administration. Other limitation includes difficulty in volunteering information.

The design used by the researcher in his investigation is survey design. The researcher developed and administered questionnaire to the staff and selected prison inmate of Nigeria prisons to obtain their views concerning the subject of study.

Research method

The research method adopted in this research is descriptive research method. It was used in describing the problems of prison administration in Nigeria prison.

Area of the study

The study focuses on Nigeria. The Prison is made up of Prison staff and the inmates.

The population of the study

The population of this research work is all the staff of Nigeria Prisons and the prison inmates which is eight hundred and seventy six (876) (Table 1).

Table 1: Total Number of Staff and Inmates in Nigeria Prison.

Sources of data

This study involves the use of primary data. The primary data were collected from the respondents, while the secondary data that supported the work from records, publication, newspapers, etc. the primary data were collected through personal administration of questionnaire by the researcher. In administering the questionnaire, direct delivery methods were used, the questionnaire was administered and time frame was given for the retrieval to avoid high incidence of instrument mortality.

Sample size determination and sampling techniques

The sample size was determined using Taro Yamani formula of selecting the sample size. Out of the 275 respondents that make up the sample size, 120 are the prison inmates while 155 respondents are the prison staff.

Formula:

Where;

n=Desired sample size,

N=Population of the study,

I=Constant,

e=Minimum error of calculation,

n=876

1+876 (0.05)2

n=876

1+876 (0.0025)

n=876

3.19=274.6

n=275

Instrument of data collection

Questionnaire: The researcher designed a questionnaire for the staff of Nigeria Prison and the inmates. The distribution of questionnaire was by direct contact and the researcher gave time for retrieval. The questionnaire is to discover the extent of the perceived problems in prison administration in Nigeria Prison. Questions designed to enable the workers and prison inmate answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; give opinion or select one or more from alternative answers that were provided.

Interview: The researcher employed the interview method in the collection of data. This involved informal interviews, which were held with some staff.

In this chapter, the data collated from the respondents of Nigeria Prison were presented with the aid of tables, percentages, for the analysis. The respondents were grouped into three cadres:

Senior Officers, Junior Officers and the inmates. The respondents were grouped into grade levels: SPOS 12-14, SPOS 07-10, Rank and file 04-06, (junior cadre). Rank and file (junior cadre) 01-03. Questionnaire was distributed to them as below (Table 2).

Table 2: Number of questionnaire distributed and returned.

The Table 2 above indicates that two hundred and seventy five (275) questionnaire were distributed to respondents. From the table, 30 questionnaire representing 11% were distributed to SPOS 12-14 and they were successfully returned. 25 questionnaire representing 9% of the sample size were distributed to SPOS 07-10, and were successfully returned. Also, 50, 50, questionnaires representing 18% were also distributed to Rank and file 04-06 and 01-03 respectively and were successfully completed and returned, finally, the 120 inmates representing 44% of the total sample size was also distributed 120 questionnaire which they successfully returned. Thus, the total of 275 questionnaires were distributed and returned. Therefore, completed and returned questionnaires will be used for the analysis and evaluation of the problems of prison Administration on Nigeria.

Question: for how long have you served as a staff of Nigeria prison service? (Table 3).

Table 3: Respondents years of service.

From the data above, twenty (20) respondents, representing thirteen percent (13%) are less than one (1) year in the service, sixty five (65) respondents, representing forty two percent (42%) are less than five year in the service, while seventy (70) respondents representing to forty five percent (45) are five years (5) and above in the service. The question is aimed at evaluating the respondent’s level of knowledge on the problems militating against smooth operation of Nigeria prison.

Question: How long have you been in prison? (Prison inmates) (Table 4).

Table 4: Respondents Number of Years in prison.

The analysis therefore shows that out of the one hundred and twenty respondents that are prison inmates, twenty (20), representing 17% are less than one year in prison. Another twenty (20) respondents, representing 17% are less than five years in prison, while eight (80) respondents which also represent 66% are over five years and above in prison. This question is equally aimed at determining the status of the targeted prison inmates and their knowledge on the problems confronting Nigeria prison.

Question: What is the capacity of Nigeria prison and what is the present status as at January 2016? (Table 5).

Table 5: Responses on Number of Inmates in Nigeria prisons.

The table above clearly indicates that Nigeria prison service as at 31^st January, 2016 was already congested with 680 prison inmates. These represent 280 inmates above its normal capacity of 400. that is to say, that the prison is congested with 70% above its normal capacity.

Research Question 1: How does prison congesting pose series constraint to effective prison administration in Nigeria prison?

In answering the above questions, a five point rating scale was adopted.

Strongly: S.A,

Agreed: A,

Undecided: UD,

Disagreed: D,

Strongly Disagreed: SD (Tables 6 and 7).

Table 6: Mean response of respondents on how prison congestion poses series constraints to effective prison administration in Nigeria prisons.

Table 7: Every Nigeria prison supposes to accommodate a stipulated number of prison inmates.

The data presented above show that 150 or 54% of the respondents strongly agreed that every Nigeria prison suppose to accommodate a stipulated number of prison inmates, 90 or 33% agreed 15 or 5% was undecided, 10 or 4% disagreed while 10 or 4% strongly disagreed (Table 8).

Table 8: The Nigeria prison actually accommodates the stipulated number of prison inmate in all the prisons.

In Table 8, the analysis of responses indicate that 5 or 2% of the respondents strongly agreed that the Nigeria prison actually accommodate the stipulated number of prison in all the prison, 5 or 2% agreed to the question, 10 or 4% percent was undecided, 160 or 58% disagreed to the question while 95 or 34% strongly disagreed to the question (Table 9).

Table 9: The structure in Nigeria prison is enough to accommodate prison inmates.

Table 9 clearly that 6 or 2% of the respondents strongly agreed that the structure in the Nigeria prison is enough to accommodate prison inmates, 4 or 1% agreed to the question, 15 or 6% was undecided 90 or 33% disagreed to the question while 160 or 58% strongly disagreed to the question (Table 10).

Table 10: The Nigeria prison is congested.

In Table 10, 160 or 58% of the respondents agreed that Nigeria prison is congested, 100 or 36% agreed to the question, 3 or 1 was undecided, 10 or 4% disagreed while 2 or 1% strongly disagreed that Nigeria prison is congested (Table 11).

Table 11: Prison congested poses serious constraint to effective Prison Administration in Nigeria Prisons.

On whether prison congestion poses serious constraint to effective prison administration in Nigeria prison, 150 or 55% strongly agreed, 109 or 40% agreed, 1 or 0% was undecided, 5 or 2% disagreed while 10 or 3% strongly disagreed.

Research Question 2: Does inadequate funding constitute an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria prison, Africa (Tables 12 and 13).

Table 12: Mean responses of respondents on whether inadequate funding constitutes an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria Prison, Africa.

Table 13: The data above in table 13shows the mean score of the respondents on each of the questionnaire items.

In Table 13, two hundred (200) respondents representing seventy three percent (73%) strongly agreed that there is allocation of fund by the federal government to the Nigeria prison service. Fifty respondents (50) or eighteen percent (18%) agreed, five (5) or one percent (1%) was undecided, ten (10) or four percent (4%) disagreed while another ten (10) or four percent (4%) strongly disagreed (Table 14).

Table 14: The fund allocation to the Nigeria prison is enough to provide the needs of Prison inmates.

In Table 14, 2 or 1% of the respondents strongly agreed that the fund allocated to the Nigeria prison is enough to provide the needs of the prison inmates, 8 or 3% agreed, 5 or 1% was undecided, 60 or 22% disagreed to the question while 200 or 73% strongly disagreed (Table 15).

Table 15: The Nigeria prison service is not well funded.

In Table 15, 250 or 91% of the respondent strongly agreed that the Nigeria prison service is not well funded, 10 or 3% agreed, 5 or 2% was undecided, 5 or 2% disagreed while 5 or 2% strongly disagreed (Table 16).

Table 16: Inadequate funding of Nigeria Prison constitutes an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria prisons, Africa.

In Table 16, two hundred and ten (210) respondents representing seventy six percent (76%) strongly agreed that inadequate funding constitutes an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria prison, Fifty (50) respondents representing eighteen percent (18%) agreed, three (3) or one percent (1%) was undecided, seven (7) respondents or three percent (3%) disagreed to the Statement while five (5) respondents signifying two percent (2%) strongly disagreed that inadequate funding constitutes an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria.

Research Question 3: Has the extant law on prison in Nigeria impacted negatively on prison administration in Nigeria? (Tables 17 and 18).

Table 17: Mean responses of respondent on how extant on prison, impacted negatively on general prison administration.

Table 18: The Nigeria prison service has existing extant law.

In Table 18, two hundred and forty (240) presenting eighty seven percent (87%) strongly agreed that Nigeria prison service has existing extant law. Twenty (20) respondents or seven percent (7%) agreed to the ascertain, five (5) respondents or two percent was undecided, five (5) or two (2%) percent disagreed while another five (5) respondents still representing two percent (2%) strongly disagreed (Table 19).

Table 19: The extant law emphasizes more on punishment and not rehabilitation.

In the above table, one hundred and sixty (160) respondents representing fifty eight percent (58%) strongly agreed that the extant law on prison emphasize more on punishment and not rehabilitation, one hundred (100) or thirty six percent (36%) agreed, two (2) or one percent (1%) was undecided, eight respondent (8) or three percent (3%) disagreed to the statement while five (5) respondents representing two percent (2%) strongly disagreed (Table 20).

Table 20: The Nigeria prison law requires urgent amendment.

In this table, one hundred and thirty respondent representing forty seven percent (47%) strongly agreed that the Nigeria prison law requires urgent amendment, one hundred and ten (110) or forty percent (40%) agreed, four (4) or one percent (1%) was undecided, fifteen (15) respondents or six percent (6%) disagreed while sixteen (16) or six percent (6%) strongly disagreed (Table 21).

Table 21: The extant prison laws should provide for the rehabilitation of both convicted and those awaiting trial men (ATM).

In Table 21, two hundred (200) respondent which represent seventy three percent (73%) strongly agreed that the extant prison laws should provide for the rehabilitation of both convicted and those awaiting trial men (ATM) sixty (60) or twenty two percent (22%) agreed, two (2) or one percent (1%) was undecided, ten (10) or three percent (3%) disagreed with the statement while three (3) or one percent (1%) strongly disagreed (Table 22).

Table 22: The extant prison laws have impacted negatively on general prison administration in Nigeria.

In the above table, two hundred and ten (210) or seventy five percent (75%) strongly agreed that the extant prison law have impacted negatively on general prison administration in Nigeria. Forty (40) or fifteen percent (15%) also agreed, also agreed, five (5) or two percent (2%) was undecided, ten (10) or four percent disagreed with the statement while another ten (10) respondents representing another four percent (4%) strongly disagreed that the prison law has no negative impact on prison administration (Table 23).

Table 23: The data above in Table 23 shows the mean score of the respondents on each of the questionnaire items.

Research Question 4: Does the inadequacy of correctional and rehabilitative equipment have constrained effort at correction and rehabilitation of prison inmates (Table 24).

Table 24: Nigeria prison does not have enough equipment for the rehabilitation of prison inmates.

In Table 24, two hundred (200) of the respondent representing seventy three percent (73%) strongly agreed that Nigeria prison does not have enough equipment for the rehabilitation of the prison inmates. Fifty (50) or eighteen percent (18%) agreed, three (3) or one percent (1%) was undecided, twelve (12) or four percent (4%) disagreed while ten (10) or four percent (4%) strongly disagreed (Table 25).

Table 25: The Nigeria prison at the moment is more of a punishment ground than a rehabilitation or reformative institution.

In the above table, two hundred and fifty (250) or ninety percent (90%) strongly agreed that the Nigeria prisons at the moment are more of a punishment ground than a rehabilitation or reformative institution. Ten (10) or four percent (4%) agreed, eight (8) or three percent (3%) disagreed, two (2) or one percent (1%) was undecided while five (5) or two percent (2%) strongly disagreed (Table 26).

Table 26: The non availability of correctional equipment in Nigeria prison has impact negatively on the general administration of Nigeria prison.

The above table indicates that one hundred and eight (180) or sixty five percent (65%) strongly agreed that the non availability of correctional equipment in Nigeria prison have impacted negatively on the administration of Nigeria prison. Sixty (60) or twenty one percent (21%) agreed, five (5) or two percent (2%) was undecided, twenty (20) or eight percent (8%) disagreed while ten (10) or four percent (4%) strongly disagreed (Table 27).

Table 27: The non availability of correctional equipment may also be responsible for existence of recidivist in Nigeria Prison.

In the analyses on the above table, two hundred and forty (240) or eight seven percent (87%) strongly agreed that the non availability of correctional equipment may also be responsible for existence of recidivist in Nigeria prison. Twenty (20) or seven percent (7%) out of the total respondents of two hundred and seventy five (275) agreed, five or two percent (2%) was undecided, five (5) or two percent (2%) disagreed while another five (5) or two percent (2%) disagreed on the above assertion (Table 28).

Table 28: There is need for Nigeria prison law to be amended to focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment.

Out of the two hundred and seventy five (275) respondents that participated in the research, two hundred and thirty (230) that represented eight three percent (83%) strongly agreed that there is need for the Nigeria prison law to be amended to focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Thirty (30) or twelve percent (1%) was undecided, two (2) or one percent (1%) disagreed while ten (10) or three percent strongly disagreed on the above assertion (Table 29).

Table 29: AVOLVA test and Reliabilities coefficient.

Reliability Coefficient: This test tells us how reliable the result is.

Reliability is estimated using inter-rater reliability which is the based on the correlation of scores between/among two or more rates, who rate the same item, scale or instruction. Thus:

Using SPSS (2^nd Edition) London.

Reliability coefficient (a)=true score.

Total (true+error) score.

Ho1: The congestion in Nigeria prison does poses serious constraints to effective prison administration.

Data in Tables 6-11 were used to test the hypothesis. The tables however were used to desire the reliability analysis scale and the AVONA output table as shown below in Table 30.

Table 30: The reliability analysis scale.

Method 1 (space saver) was used for this analysis (Tables 30 and 31).

Table 31: Analysis of variance.

Reliability coefficients: The a-value 0.0012<0.005 as shown in the analysis on Tables 30 and 31 which show that there is no significant difference between the mean score, therefore, we reject the null hypothesis and then accept the alternate hypothesis that the congestion in Nigeria prison poses serious constrain to effective prison administration. The analysis went further to show that this result is 98% reliable.

Ho2: Inadequate funding of prisons by federal government constitutes an impediment to effective prison administration of Nigeria prison.

This was tested using data from Tables 12 and 16 to build up Tables 32 and 33 as shown below.

Table 32: Reliability-scale: Alfa.

Table 33: Analysis of variance.

Method 1 (space saver) was use for the analysis (Tables 32 and 33).

The p-value 0.003 < 0.005 as shown in the analysis on Tables 32 and 33 shown that the zero significant different between the mean score.

Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis which states that inadequate funding of Nigeria prison do not constitute an impediment to effective prison administration and accept the alternative hypothesis which state that the inadequate funding Nigeria prison service constitute an impediment to effective prison administration in Nigeria prison. This analysis also showed that the result is 98% reliable.

The researcher included vital data (primary and secondary) in order to carry out the research successfully. It is believed that the outcome of this research work reflect to sincere views and true position of respondents on prison administration in Nigeria.

The four research questions that gave rise to the corresponding hypotheses as formulated and tested showed the following results.

The congestion in Nigeria prison poses serious constraints to effective prison administration

Table 6 observed that one hundred and fifty (150) respondents strongly agreed that every Nigeria prison suppose to accommodate a stipulated number of inmates while ninety (90) out of two hundred and seventy five (275) respondents also agreed on the assertion. One hundred and sixty (160) disagreed that the Nigeria prison actually accommodate the stipulated number of prison inmates in all her prison across the country while ninety five (95) respondents strongly disagreed that Nigeria prison does not admit the number designated for each of them. More so, ninety (90) respondents also disagreed that the structures in Nigeria prison is enough to accommodate prison inmate while another one hundred and sixty (160) out of the total two hundred and seventy five (275) of the sample population strongly disagreed that the structure available in the Nigeria prison is enough to accommodate the inmates. Furthermore, another one hundred and sixty (160) out of the usual two hundred and seventy five (275) of the sample population strongly agree that Nigeria prison is congested while one hundred (100) of the population equally agrees that the prison is congested.

Finally, another one hundred and fifty (150) out of two hundred and seventy five still strongly agreed that the prison congestion poses serious constraints to effective prison administration in Nigeria prison.

In the analysis of the above response, it could be deduced that congestion in Nigeria prison poses serious constraint to effective prison administration.

Inadequate funding of prisons by federal government constitution an impediment to effective administration of Umuahia prison

In the funding of Nigeria prison service, Table 12 analyzed the view of the two hundred and seventy five (275) respondents. On whether there is allocation of fund by the federal government to the Nigeria prison service, two hundred (200) respondents strongly agreed that prison get allocation of is fund from the federal government while fifty (50) respondents equally agreed that the prison s actually being funded by the federal government. On whether the fund allocation to the Nigeria prison is enough to provide the basic needs of prison inmates sixty (60) out of the two hundred and seventy five (275) respondents disagreed that the fund allocation to the Nigeria prison is enough while two hundred (200) respondents further strongly disagreed that the fund made available to the prison by federal government is enough. That is to say, that about ninety four point five percent (94.5%) of the sample population are of the view that the fund allocation to the Nigeria prison and indeed Nigeria prison is not enough. Furthermore, on whether the Nigeria prison service is not actually well funded, another two hundred and fifty (250) respondents strongly agreed to the above statement while another (10) respondents corroborated the statement. That is to say, that ninety four point percent (94.5%) of the entire respondents is of the view that the Nigeria prison service is not well funded.

The Nigeria extant laws on prison have impacted negative on the administrative of Nigeria prison

On whether the Nigeria extant law on prison have imparted negative in the administration of Nigeria prison, Table 17 analyzed the responses from the respondents. Out of two hundred and seventy five (275) respondents that participated in the research, two hundred and forty (240) strongly agreed that the Nigeria prison service has existing extant law, another ten (10) respondents also agreed on the notion. One hundred and sixty (160) respondents strongly agreed also that the extant law emphasized more on punishment and not rehabilitation while another one hundred (100) respondents agreed also that the extant law emphasized more on punishment and not rehabilitation. That is to say, about ninety four percent (94%) of the respondents supported the idea. On whether the Nigeria prison laws requires urgent amendment, about one hundred and thirty (130) respondents, out of the two hundred and seventy five (275) respondents agreed on the need for urgent amendment of Nigeria prison law.

Lack of correctional facilities for rehabilitation of offenders in Nigeria prison is positively related to the increasing cases of recidivism among prison inmates

Based on the above hypothesis, Table 23 analyzes the responses of the respondents. About two hundred (200) respondents out of two hundred and seventy five (275) of the sample population are of the view that Nigeria prison does not have enough equipment for the rehabilitation of prison inmates while fifty (50) further agreed to that notion. Another two hundred and fifty (250) of the entire respondents also strongly agreed that the Nigeria prison at the moment is more of a punishment ground than a rehabilitations or reformative institution while another ten still agreed to that statement. This implies that about ninety four percent (94%) of the entire respondents supported the fact that the prison at the moment is a punishment ground and not a rehabilitation centre. On whether the non availability of correctional equipment in Nigeria prison have impacted negatively on the administration of her prison, about two hundred and forty (240) respondents out of the two hundred and seventy five supported the idea. That is to say, about eighty seven percent (87%) of the entire respondents supported that the non availability of correctional equipment in Nigeria prison have impacted negatively on the administration of Nigeria. Fourthly, on whether the non availability of correctional equipment being responsible for existence of recidivist in Nigeria prison, about two hundred and sixty (260) respondents representing ninety four percent (94%) of the respondents supported the notion. Finally, about two hundred and sixty (260) still support the fact that there is need to focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Simply put, the entire responses supported the view that lack of correction facilities for the rehabilitation of offender in Nigeria prison is positively responsible to the increase case of recidivist among prison inmate.

Summary

The study analyzed prison administration in Nigeria. A descriptive research method and design was adopted for the study in the process of analysis, the research discovered that Nigeria prison is congested which constitute on impediment to effective prison administration. The prison is cramped with about seventy percent (70%) above her capacity. More so, the system of funding the prison was also observed to constitute on impediment to effective prison administration. This is predicated on the fact that the resources made available annually for the administration of prison is not sufficient due to continuous increase in number prison inmates without sufficient facilities to accommodate them.

The study further provides part of the problem of prison administration in Nigeria as the existence of certain flaws in the prison act of 1972 which lay no emphasis on rehabilitation and training of inmate. This situation have resulted to increase in number of recidivist in Nigeria prison hence, the prison of the moment has no functional rehabilitation centre.

The researcher concluded as follows: that the Nigeria prison is congested as a result of infrastructural decay occasional by poor funding of the Nigeria prison and this has impacted negatively on the prison inmates, coupled with the assured flaws that exist in the prison act. This has resulted to increasing number of recidivist in Nigeria prison.

From the result of the finding, the following recommendations were made;

The federal government should amend and pass into law prison act. Government should make a policy for the rehabilitation of prisoners instead of concentrating on punishments. The act should emphasis more on rehabilitation of inmates and not punishment. Such rehabilitation should include both the convicted and awaiting trial men (ATM), and reduce the over dependence of prison on government. There should be more others sources of fund to the prison administration not only depending on government, NGOs etc should come up with a well articulated plan for better service delivery.