Journal of Research in Peace, Gender and Development (ISSN: 2251-0036) Vol. 1(8) pp. 235-241 September 2011
Available online@ http://www.interesjournals.org/JRPGD
Copyright ©2011 International Research Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The pains of imprisonment: a sociological analysis of
the experiences of inmates in Ilorin and Kirikiri prisons
Tope Alabi and Stella Olubusola Alabi
Department of Sociology, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria
Accepted 09 August, 2011
Nigerian prison system as a part of reformative and punitive agent has lost its core valve/functions. The
presences of over 240 prisons across Nigeria have little or no effects in reducing crime and perhaps
recidivism in Nigeria. The pains, loss and hardship experiences of inmates in Nigeria prisons could
hardly justify the crime committed as many of the inmates are mere awaiting trial and some are people
arrested in place of a family members of the accused the police could not locate. This paper examined the
experiences of inmates: the conditions of Nigerian prisons, the peculiar experiences of the inmates and
implications/effects of imprisonment on their family and the society as a whole. The paper relied mostly
on primary data gathered from of 40 inmates and 6 warders interviewed at Kirikiri and Ilorin prisons.
Other secondary data were obtained from published journals, publication of Amnesty International, and
other library materials. The study adopted explanatory approach. The study indicated that imprisonment
is of little or no effects on crime reduction. Thus, government is advised to seek more crime-preventive
strategies rather than corrective/punitive measures.
Keywords: Incarceration/imprisonment, criminal justice system (CJS), offenders, inmates, cell.
INTRODUCTION
Incarceration as a form of punishment for law-breakers is
not alien to modern Nigeria society. It has been a form of
practice even before the emergence of colonial rule in
Nigeria. According to (Okunola et al., 2002), in the
northern Nigeria, a traditional legal system including
prison was already in place before the British imperialism.
Equally, in south western Nigeria as well as other parts of
the country, prison was part of political and legal system
before and during colonialism. What only altered was the
modification in its administration and functions. Prison
system is one of the agents of criminal justice system and
perhaps the last stage of criminal justice system in
Nigeria. It is primarily charged with the responsibilities of
incarcerating and reforming the offenders in the society
(Rotman, 1970; Alemeka, 1983; Adeola, 1994).
It is regarded as a place where the “undesirable
elements, the wrong doers” of the society are kept
(Okunola et al., 2002).
Historically, the use of punishment for wrong doing is
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
stellaalabi1@yahoo.co.uk.
luckytope4j@yahoo.co.uk,
as old as society itself. In about 2000 BC, Moses in the
Holy Bible spoke of “an eye for eye and tooth for tooth”
(Exodus, 24:24). According to Jeremy Betel (1823),
punishment is an imposition of some negative or
unpleasant action on a person in response to behaviour
deemed wrong by an individual or group with the purpose
of retribution and deterring others from engaging in such
behaviour. Durkheim (1938) contented that crime is
inevitable in the society but punishment works not to
remove crime but to heal the wound done to the
collective sentiment. Thus, without punishment, the
collective sentiments would lose their power to control
behaviours and the crime rate would reach the point
where it becomes abnormal in the society. To him prison
is one form of punishment which he describe as a place
in which a law breakers are confined and are, usually
deprived of a range of personal freedom and rights. The
development of modern prison system to the public penal
institution was not recent development. Modern prison
started in Nigeria in 1892 when the British colonialists
established a prison at Broad Street in Lagos for the
purpose of incarcerating the civil offenders and people
opposing the colonialists. As at 2010, there were over
240 prisons spread across the country (NPS, 2010;
Alabi and Alabi 236
Amnesty International, 2008).
The pertinent questions one needs to ask are: were the
reasons for establishing these prisons achieved; why has
it being repeated recidivism; and what are the pains and
implications of imprisonment on the individual inmates,on
their families and the post-prison experiences. These
questions and many other issues are what this research
seeks to elaborate.
METHODOLOGY
The study relied mostly on primary as well as secondary
data obtained from variety of sources. Primarily, data
were obtained from 40 inmates and 6 warders in Ilorin
and Kirikiri prisons through in-depth interview. Also, other
data were obtained from published journals, publication
of Amnesty International, newspaper, magazines and
newspapers, and information from the internet. Basically,
the research approach was mainly descriptive nature
using verbal quotations and citations.
Objectives of the study
The general objective of this paper is to basically
examine the untold suffering of inmates in Nigerian
prisons taking Ilorin and Kirikiri prison as the case study.
Other objectives amongst other things include:
• Examining the nature and state of Nigerian prisons,
• Critically examine the general experiences and
problems faced by inmates in Nigeria prisons,
• Identify peculiar experiences of inmates, and
• Identify measures in addressing the abnormality
facing prison system and criminal justice system in
Nigeria.
The nature of Nigerian prison and criminal justice
system
In the broadest sense, criminal justice system (CJS) is
the system of practices and institutions of government
directed at upholding social control, deterring and
mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws
with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts (Rothman,
1975). Those accused of crime have protections against
abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers. The
criminal justice system consists of three main parts: (1)
law enforcement (police); (2) adjudication (courts); and
(3) corrections (jails, prisons, probation and parole). In a
criminal justice system, these distinct agencies operate
together both under the rule of law and as the principal
means of maintaining the rule of law within society. The
first contact an offender has with the criminal justice
system is usually with the police (or Law enforcement)
that investigates a suspected wrong-doing and make an
arrest. When warranted, law enforcement agencies or
police officers are empowered to use force and other
forms of legal coercion and means to effect public and
social order. The courts serve as the venue
wheredisputes are then settled and justice is
administered. With regard to criminal justice, there are a
number of critical people in any court setting. Offenders
are then turned over to the correctional authorities, from
the court system after the accused has been found guilty.
Like all other aspects of criminal justice, the
administration of punishment has taken many different
forms throughout history.
Prison is seen as a place of confinement; a place in
which people considered to be offenders, are physically
confined and usually deprived of a range of personal
freedoms (Carlson et al., 1999; David, 1996; Ajomo et al.,
1991). Prison, according to McCork and Korn (1970), is a
castle-like structure isolated from the general community
and is expected to protect the “law-abiding” from the
“undesirables” (Okunola et al., 2002). Odekunle (1974)
contended that prison is an isolated community- often
with high wall, locked order and barbed wires- it is
expected to return its clients who were ones the
undesirable of the society back as fit into the mainstream
of larger society. Prisons are normally surrounded by
fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or
other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers,
concertina wires, electrified fencing secured and
defensible main gates, armed guard towers, lighting,
motion sensors, dogs and roving patrols may all also be
present depending on the level of security. Remote
controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages,
restraints, nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear
and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all
also be present within a prison to monitor and control the
movement and activity of prisoners within the facility. The
levels of security within a prison system are categorized
differently around the world, but tend to follow a distinct
pattern (Carlson, 1999). Most developed countries divide
prisons into separate security classes depending on the
inmate population and the security needed to keep them
under control. Accordingly, most developed countries
have classes ranging from the most secure, which
typically hold violent prisoners and those judged most
likely to escape, to the least, which are most often used
to house non-violent offenders or those for whom more
stringent security is deemed unnecessary. A custody
level in which both design and construction as well as
inmate classification reflect the need to provide maximum
external and internal control and supervision of inmates
primarily through the use of high security perimeters and
extensive use of internal physical barriers and check
points. Inmates accorded this status present serious
escape risks or pose serious threats to themselves, to
other inmates, to staff, or the orderly running of the
institution. Movement in or out of the pod to and from
237 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
exercise yards, work assignments or medical
appointments can be restricted to individual pods at
designated times and is generally centrally controlled. A
small number of corrections officers, sometimes a single
officer, are assigned to supervise each pod. The pods
contain tiers of cells arranged around a central control
station or desk from which a single officer can monitor all
of the cells and the entire pod, control cell doors and
communicate with the rest of the prison. Supervision of
inmates is direct and constant (David, 1996; Diiulio,
1990).
Nigerian prisons are in no way different from the ones
described above, perhaps worse than them. Chief
Obafemi Awolowo an ex-prisoner and first western
premier in Nigeria once commented thus;
“There is nothing cheering about Nigeria prisons life. The
buildings are dull; the cells are semi-dark and the vast
majority of inmates are rough in mind and body. They
constitute a kind of state with state functionaries within
prisons” (Awolowo 1985).
Adeola (1988; 1994) argued that imprisonment does not
do the offender any good; rather it is used as a last resort
of means of punishing the criminals and protecting the
society from them. According to Oshodi (2010), prison
system in Nigeria is a waste of energy especially the
imprisonment of petty offenders. He argued further that
other forms of punishment like probation or community
service might be more appropriate and should
concentrate instead on incapacitating dangerous and
persistent offenders by locking them up, if necessary for
long period.
Generally, Nigeria prisons are one of the worse in the
world. They are overcrowded with both convicted
criminals and suspects awaiting trial. Prisoners are
economically unproductive, physically idle and emotional
disturbed (Dambazua, 1989; Oshodi, 2010). This
economic idleness of prisoners may be unconnected to
increase recidivisms, drug abuse and violence amongst
inmates. Atere (2000) asserted that Nigeria prison
system is characterized by a picture of hellish conditiontortures, hunger, inhuman treatment, congestion,
diseases and premature death. An ex-detainee of Kirikiri
maximum prison ones lamented thus:
“I don’t wish anybody to go to that place and I pray to
God that I should never have anything to do with that
place. It is hell on earth…..Even if a person is dying, as
long as he/she can still stand on his/her feet, nobody will
belief he/she is sick.”
Nigeria has about 240 prisons spread across 36 state
including Abuja with the capacity of about 47,800 inmates.
However, according to report of Nigerian Prison Service
in 2010 (NPS, 2010), the total number of inmates in
Nigeria was put at over 85,000 and more than 65% of
them were awaiting trial. This figure even indicated a
reduction in number when compared to about 131,000 in
1999 when suppression, repression and incarceration of
people opposed to military regime were at its peak. The
criminal justice system has turned to “conveyor belt of
justice, from the beginning to the ends. Sometimes,
innocent people are arrested and tortured by police.
These are routine and widespread practice, with
“confessions” extracted through tortured are often used
as evidence in trials (Amnesty International, 2008). Most
inmates have never been convicted of any crime, with
some awaiting trial for up to 10 years. Many inmates
awaiting trials are effectively presumed guilty- despite the
fact that there is little evidence of their involvement in the
crime of which they are accused. Some of the inmates
were people not even suspected of committing any crime
but were imprisoned along with convicted criminals.
Some were arrested in place of a family member of the
accused the police could not locate; others suffer from
mental illness and were brought to prison by families who
were unable or unwilling to take care of them. Most of
them have no lawyer to advocate on their behalf
(Amnesty international, 2008; Civil Liberty of Organisation,
1995).
The Nigerian courts are overburdened by lack of
adequate system of court administration, as such they
are not able to account fully for the status of a case, or
track a case as the availability of modern clerical,
technical and professional functions and services remain
unattainable. The result is unbearable prison backlog for
persons in the middle of legal proceedings. Cases take
so long time to get to court and many of the inmates are
too poor to be able to pay for lawyer, and only one in
seven of the awaiting trial have private legal
representation. Although government legal aid existed,
but were too few to tackle the numerous cases pending in
Nigeria judiciary system. Some could end up spending
the rest of their lives behind bars in appealing conditions
without ever having been convicted of a crime-sometimes
due to their case file having been lost by the police
(Oshodi, 2010).
State of Nigerian prisons
The Nigerian prisons have a few things in common:
congestion, dirt and inadequate medical and
rehabilitation facilities. As a result, many inmates fall sick
and die before they are tried or during jail term (Okunola,
2002; Amnesty International, 2008). NPS (2010) claim
that the death rate has declined to 89 from 1,500 per year,
due to activities of humanitarian organizations. There
were cases of riots among inmates in recent times over
poor living standards. Some inmates who are released
commit crimes and return to prison either because they
were not properly rehabilitated or the society rejected
them. A report by Amnesty International titled “Waiting for
Alabi and Alabi 238
the Hangman” (2008) shows that most inmates on death
row develop psychiatric problems due to the mental
torture of waiting indefinitely for the hangman.
At the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison, however, there
were three hierarchies of prison life, according to one to
the inmates in Kirikiri prison. He said:
“There is a general cell which can contain up to 25
people. “We sleep over ourselves on the cold floor with
no mat. You cannot turn, you have to stand up to turn;
and if you even get a place on the floor to lie on, thank
God.”In this cell, there is no toilet. The men defecate in
buckets which are located inside the room. The windows
are small and there is no ventilation. “This is the cell that
they put the ‘Alejos’ (newly remanded to prison),”
He continued;
“The first day I got here, I slept in that cell, I almost died
of overcrowding; it was so stuffy. It was full of smells; no
air, and mosquitoes dealt with me.”
He said he paid his way to live in the “privileged cell,”
which is better than the general cell. There is also the cell
called the “White House,” which was refurbished by a
former inmate. “This is the big boys’ quarters for anybody
that can afford it.” At the “White House” there is a big
sitting room, decent rooms, inmates have access to basic
amenities, television, water, toilet and can cook their own
food unlike the general cell.
This respondent, who was in the oil and gas company,
was remanded in prison custody for fraud and was still
awaiting trial after eight months after arrest.
Amnesty International (2010) asserted that the Nigerian
prisons are fast-becoming an immense embarrassment
and a national scandal. They were largely filled with
inmates awaiting trial or charges are yet to be filed
against them. Many inmates awaiting trial have been in
prison for more than two to fifteen years. Some inmates
were arrested for low-level crimes such as traffic
violations and domestic disputes, which are largely
punishable by a fine or a minimal incarceration.
As a result of the total breakdown of the Nigerian
criminal justice system, the prisons were filled with
thousands of inmates who have never been convicted of
any crime. Ironically, the hardcore career-criminals are
left to roam freely on the streets by the Nigerian police as
long as they are “settled” monetarily. Most inmates are
financially incapable to afford the services of an attorney
to represent them in court. The governments appointed
legal
practitioners
were
sometimes
ineffective,
inexperienced and inefficient. Most disturbing and
unfortunately, some inmates were tortured by the police
to extract false confessions often used as evidence in
court. This inhumane and illegal practice is customary,
routine and widespread among the police. The Nigerian
Police Force is widely known as one of the most shady,
dishonest and dysfunctional organization in Nigeria.
There were concerns from international community
including human rights groups and developed countries
over the neglect of Nigerian government for its
obligations in overhauling the prison system. The
Nigerian Prisons Service claims to have a total of 144
convict prisons and 83 satellite prison camps. Over the
past years, the Nigerian Prison Service has been
associated with corruption and total negligent of their
constitutional duties. The Nigerian Prisons Service has
been characterized as a dysfunctional institution and a
total failure. Notwithstanding, life inside the Nigerian
prisons cannot be complete without highlighting the plight
of the Nigerian prisons staff. They have been known to
be highly underpaid, understaffed and under-trained with
no reasonable staff benefits coupled with working long
hours (Amnesty International 2008).
The living conditions in the prisons are appalling and
are damaging to physical and mental wellbeing of the
inmates, and most cases constitute clear threats to their
health. Inmates are forced to survive in the worst living
conditions such as poor sanitation, lack of food, lack of
medication, overcrowding, poor clothing, insecurity and
denied visitation by family and friends. Inmates are forced
to sleep two to three on a bed or on the cold concrete
floor. There were prisons that have no running water,
toilets were cloaked with human waste and taking bath a
week is nearly impossible. Prison guards were also in the
habit of demanding bribes from inmate families in the
forms of money and sexual favour for such “privileges” as
receiving visitors, using the telephone, taking a clean
bath, visiting hospital.
According to CLO (1995), most Nigerian prisons have
small clinics or sick bays but lack medicines, and in
many prisons inmates have to pay for their own
medicines. Guide frequently demand that inmates pay
bribe for such “privileges” as visiting the hospital,
receiving visitors, contacting their family and, in some
cases, being allowed outside their cells at all.
General experiences of inmates in Nigerian prisons
There is no society in the world without prison system as
it is been used to keep the offenders from further
“infecting and inflicting” other members of the society.
Researches have showed that most developed nations
have higher number and percentage of inmates than their
developing counterpart. Globally, the number of prisons
inmates was estimated to be 9.25 million as at 2006
(Harrison et al., 2006; Walmsley, 2006). The basic
differences have to do with effective administration and
adequate provision of facilities in most prisons in
developed societies. There is nothing appealing in prison
life. It is a place where human rights are systematically
and totally abused. An inmate comes into the prison with
full-fledge, already acquired way of life. However,
239 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Nigerian prisons as correctional institutions are not
interested in these old habits and ways, but rather create
and sustain a particular tension. As soon as an individual
is pronounced guilty or sentenced or (even in Nigeria
context, is allegedly arrested for any alleged crime) and
was brought into the prison, he/she begins a new way of
life. On entering the yard, the offender is stripped off all
his/her personal effects brought from the outside world.
His/her autonomous decisions, right and privileges are
eliminated through the process of collective scheduling of
daily activities (Ajomo et al., 1990). Instructions inform of
commands are given with no persuasion or negotiation
by the prison warders. Any misbehaviour in one sphere of
life is held against the inmate in the other sphere.
The inmate is constantly enveloped under the
atmosphere of constraints- speech, movement, social
intercourse and the constitutional rights. The harsh
enforcement of rules and constraints automatically
subject the inmates into chronic anxiety about breaking
the rules and the consequences of breaking them
(Morgan 1997, Okunola et al., 2002). Thus, the desire to
stay out of “trouble” is normally common among the
inmates which most time leads them to avoid certain level
of sociability with fellows.
The world of work in the prison community presents a
different scenario than that which obtained in the world
outside. Work here is induced not by reward but by threat
of dire punishment which thus leads to demoralization on
the part of the inmates. The direct relationship between
work done and material value received as well as
individual’s productivity and personal status have been
broken down. One other stricken feature of Nigerian
prison is the aspect of inmates’ life conducted in the
same place under the same authority (Okunola et al.,
2002). The Nigerian prisons have a few things in
common: congestion, dirt and inadequate medical and
rehabilitation facilities. As a result, many inmates fall sick
and die before they are tried or during jail term (Okunola,
2002; Amnesty International, 2008). Nigerian prison
authorities (2010) claim that the death rate has now
declined to 89 from 1,500 per year, due to activities of
humanitarian organizations.
Peculiar experiences of inmates
The inmates may be confined in the same restricted
place, yet, each of them has a peculiar experience and
problems. A common adage in Nigeria says, everyone
wears shoe but each one knows where it pinched. The
pains of imprisonment go beyond mere incarcerating or
rehabilitating the offender, but equally go along some
other untold hardships, loss, regrets, disappointments
and depressions. From the data obtained from the
inmates serving different jail terms as well as those
awaiting trials in Ilorin and Kirikiri maximum prisons, there
were tail of woes and sorrows expressed by these
inmates. More than 65% of the inmates interviewed
expressed regret for their past misdeeds; 72.5% of the
respondents have lost hope of having a better future with
only 12.5% expresses their confidence of better future;
75% of the awaiting trials had no confidence in CJS of
ever being fairly treated; 47.5% of the awaiting trials
claimed they have spent more than one year in the prison
with their cases never brought before court. A convicted
ex-cultist university student, serving 10 year jail term
lamented thus:
“Where will I start my life after ten years in this hold, to go
back to school or to start a business, or get married?
He continued,
“I was in 400 (final year) levels in the department of
Political Science before I was caught along other cultists.
We were tried and jailed for various offenses accordingly
and I was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment (with hard
labour). I am finished. My parents may not be ready to
sponsor me again as they have now dissociated
themselves from me”.
To him, he was not only facing and suffering the pain of
imprisonment but has equally lost hope and assurance of
better future.
A similar but different experience of regret and
expression of bleak future was expressed by another
inmate who was a former employee of a bank with ND
(National Diploma) certificate. According to him, he lost
his job as bank staff but took to wrong business which
eventually landed him in prison. He stated thus:
“My life is a shame to myself and my family. I have no
hope after serving this 6 years jail term. I would be
naturally or automatically become ex-convict. Which
company or business organization will want to employ me
as ex-convict? Even now, my family is scattered, my wife
business has gone down due to sustained ridicules,
insults and stigmas received from neighbours and the
public. I was told my children have been withdrawn from
their schools and taken to my village”.
Other peculiar pains faced by the inmates include
emotional, psychological and health related problems.
62.5% of the respondents claimed they were having
emotional and health related problems as a result of the
conditions they found themselves. Amongst these set of
inmates was a middle aged man who was looking
depressed and frail, lamented thus:
“It is better to be dead than to be facing all kinds of
unbearable hardship in this place. I was (and am still) a
hypertensive patient before I was brought to this place.
My condition has grown worse as I spend most of the
night in insomnia with no comfort from dear one or any
Alabi and Alabi 240
object of relief or happiness. The snoring noise of people
sleeping and rough lifestyle of my fellows are distracting
and offending. Besides, no sufficient space to stretch my
leg or turn my sides while sleeping. Also, I have no
money to buy some basic necessities”.
The general experiences of these inmates reflect the life
of disappointments, regrets, lost of hope, low self-esteem,
lost of focus and hope for the future. They were
encumbered with the regrets of the past misdeeds,
depression for the inconveniences of the moment and
anxiety of the uncertain future.
Beyond the immediate or direct effects of imprisonment,
there are other multiplier effects of a inmate’s
incarceration on his/her family. From the responses from
the respondents, 67.5% of them said their present ordeal
have negatively affected their family members; 22.5%
said they lost at least one family members as a result of
the imprisonment; 45% claimed that at least one of their
family members have been stigmatized, ridiculed and
expelled from either their house, school, business or
community. A middle age man who claimed he was one
time a successful international businessman was
recounting the immeasurable effects of his ordeals in
prison. Though he looked confident and stable, he
lamented thus;
“Life is no longer fit for a person like me. I have lost my
wife to hypertension and my mother has been brought
down with stroke from the time I was napped by officers
of National Food and Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA). Both my properties and estate have been sold
in order to secure my release but all have gone without
any assurance of possible solution……”
However, some of the inmates expressed some
cheerfulness both in their countenances and their
speeches. Amongst this group of inmates were those
who undergone reformative programmes through prison
authority, or agencies or organizations such as church
ministry. Some of these inmates agreed with the
justification of their ordeal as some of them claimed to be
(harden) criminals before coming in contact with prison.
As they were serving their jail terms, they were
adequately reformed. Amongst these set of inmates was
a man commonly called “The Pastor” by his fellows. He
courteously expressed thus:
“I thank God for my life. I was into money swindling and
engaged in making fake money. When I was caught and
prosecuted, I was condemned into death. On getting here
I lost hope of neither living nor even regaining freedom
but rather expecting the day of execution. But as I waiting
helplessly for day of execution, I continue to listen to
some preachers who normally visit us periodically and
the encouragement from one of the warders here; I
responded to their messages and gave my life to Christ-
got born again. As time went on, my hope and view about
life changed and I adopted selfless God-seeking
life .Miraculously, the court later reversed my case of
dead sentence and converted it to 10 years imprisonment.
Now, I have less than a year to spend in this hold and
hope to reunite with my family.”
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
From the foregoing, it has being made clear that there is
no society in the world without prison system as it is been
used to keep the offenders from further “infecting and
inflicting” other members of the society. Even most
developed nations have higher percentage of inmates
than their developing counterpart. Incarceration of
offenders has its good as well as its odds but the former
in normally society should out weight the latter. From the
experiences of the inmates serving different jail terms in
Ilorin and Kirikiri (Nigerian) prisons, one can assert that
imprisonment in Nigeria does little or no good to the
culprits and their family (Atere, 2000; Adeola, 1988).
Incarcerating the offenders is useful in order to keep the
social order in a balance. However, Nigeria government
should seek for more crime-preventive strategies rather
than corrective/punitive measures. Poverty and ignorant
are one the major factors contributing to people’s
susceptible to crime and delinquent behaviours (Aderinto,
2000). These factors are prominent features amongst
Nigerian populate. Thus, if crime should be reduced,
poverty and ignorance should be combed to the lowest
state in Nigeria. Also, public orientation on basic rules
and regulations and the right of individuals must be
religiously pursued. Nigerians prison system must be
totally overhauled in order to meet the basic purpose for
establishing them. A world class prison system with
modern facilities and mode of operation should be
adopted. Also, it was made clear of majority inmates in
Nigeria prisons are just awaiting trials. Government
should provide adequate Anthony assistance to those
that cannot afford to pay for the service of lawyers.
Although, justice delay may not be justice denied,
judiciary proceeding should not be too cumbersome that
will result into misplacement of justice or unjustifiable
punishment of the innocent especially the inmates
awaiting trial. To make the Nigerian legal and criminal
justice system manageable the pouring in money into the
system may not always be the solution to the problem. In
that any money poured into the sub-areas of the police,
court, jail, prison systems should evidence tangible
outcomes. The judicial branch, with the help of less
stressed and competent legal workers especially
the clerks, defense lawyers, prosecutors, magistrates,
judges, and others, must learn to divert less serious
offenders to community-type treatment, punishment or
placement, instead of the magistrate’s or judge’s usual
verbal sounding to the attending police or prison officer
241 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
“take him away”. Also, no matter how much money is
spent on the correctional system, as long as the police
and the courts remain or refuse commonsense approach
of arresting, detaining, and charging a suspect, the
Nigerian confinement system will remain contaminated
with congestion, stagnation, degradation and injustice.
The Nigerian constitution guarantees the right of every
citizen to be brought before a court of law within a
reasonable time. The judiciary needs to guarantee
inmates a fair and speedy trial and offer proper legal
representation and address the living conditions in the
prisons. The federal government should create an
employee benefits incentive plan for the prisons staff.
The authority within the Nigerian police needs to reinforce
within its rank that the principle of presumption of
innocence should be respected and observed, and every
suspect should be regarded innocent until the court
declares otherwise. A fair and speedy trial is not a
privilege but a right. Equally, federal government of
Nigeria needs to come to the realization that the sole
general overseer of the welfare of the inmates. This
responsibility is solely within the domain of the
government and should not be delegated to the
charitable organizations.
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