Penology, also known as “Penal Science”, is the division of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of society in its effort to repress criminal activities and satisfy public opinion via an appropriate treatment regime for persons convicted of criminal offenses. It can also be defined as the study of the punishment of crime and prison management.
This article seeks to address the origin, history, reforms, problems & possible solutions, and educate us in general about Penology in Nigeria.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
Among the numerous customs acquired by man are many, which persist partly because of man’s limitless capacity for rationalizing his behavior. The custom of punishing wrongdoers is among these. While it may be true that punishment, real or threatened, is a necessary ingredient in maintaining conformity to group norms, most societies accept its usefulness without question.
With a few possible exceptions established means of corporately inflicting some form of unpleasantness upon the wrongdoer are found in every society. At different times and places men have been branded, mutilated, torn apart, fed to beasts, slowly starved, burned, exposed in pillories to the insults of passers-by, enslaved in galleys, crucified, and pressed to death.
Contemporary Western societies have largely abandoned these remnants of tribal punishment, providing instead that criminals be deprived of money or property, removed from the group, executed painlessly, or put to forced labor.
We would look at the history of punishment from pre-scientific literate society to scientific penology and finally to the “New Penology”.
To the primitive, that a personal injury deserves a rejoinder is simple justice. The older notion that primitive “justice” was characterized by endless series of retaliatory exchanges has been modified; act of retaliation and revenge are so destructive of ordered living that limitations upon them early in the development of human societies were essential.
Nonetheless, only a few condemned acts evoke an overt social response, and it is in this domain of risks to corporate safety that preliterate traditions are most important to punishment history. Survival is a risky endeavor for primitives, needing continual awareness to avoid countless hazards to life and health: injuries, infections, food shortages, enemy attacks, hostile animals – not to mention a plethora of unseen beings of unearthly character.
Keeping alive and well is, more often than not, such a delicate affair that behaviors that risking a group’s safety by unduly raising the odds against survival are dealt with swiftly and, in some cases, harshly. Defiling sacred items, cowardice in battle, and assault on a king or holy man are examples of such actions, as are treason and “unauthorized” witchcraft.
(This isn’t to suggest that the pre-literates’ justification for prohibiting such behavior is based solely on the fact that it’s “hazardous to the group.”) Taboos, on the other hand, are said to come from transcendental origins — a claim that isn’t exclusive to primitive communities.)
The Civil State, which was made up of various tribes, was no longer the core group with the primitive society’s unity and close ties. Conquerors and conquered, master and slave, nobility and commoner, priest and layman, lord and serf, upper and lower class, and eventually employer and employee became increasingly distinct and important categories. These implied a stratified society with competing class interests and several friction points. This resulted in legislation that favored class interests, diminished sympathy bonds, decreased interest in individual members of the bigger state, increased crime, and increased punishment for crime.
Written Penal Codes evolved from unwritten customs, which were by no means the only basis of criminal law. Many private torts or injuries morphed into public torts or crimes. Individuals began to be held accountable for crimes rather than the groups in which they participated. Magical formulas were less prevalent in criminal proceedings and other social activities.
To free man from the medieval church’s absolutist grip, a “rebirth” was required. The Reformation opposed absolute monarchy but replaced it with a near-slavery to book. The Renaissance progressively instilled skepticism about the cosmos, rather than a scientific mindset, allowing rational thought to replace the dogmatic faith of the Middle Ages.
Only later did thinking about and observations of this variety of objects reveal order in their arrangements, as the Renaissance revealed a cosmos full of a variety of things. Later, the order observed in inanimate events was found to characterize psychological and social processes, though it was less probable. This scientific advancement arose from economic discoveries, interactions, and inventions that resulted in the industrial revolution.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
Though increasingly visible, the scientific viewpoint does not yet dominate modern correctional or therapy policy. We still punish largely for retribution, deterrence, or to strike a “fair” balance between “deliberate” evildoers on the one hand and an aggrieved and angered society on the other. We don’t generally punish or treat people in the way that scientific criminology would suggest, namely, in order to convert antisocial attitudes into constructive ones.
We will describe existing punitive policies and procedures in the following units. We’ll discover neoclassical assumptions, slightly modified by scientific principles, that are fundamentally incompatible with them. We can’t completely avoid examining the “new penology’s” policies.
The term “new penology” can be interpreted in two ways. They could be referring to the most progressive penal system currently in existence, such as the federal government’s. The word could apply to a “ideal” criminal justice system envisioned as implicit in scientific criminology.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
Before colonization, African societies had their own distinct ideas about law and justice.
African law was made up of a set of flexible concepts or norms that guided the administration of justice rather than fixed laws. These norms were derived directly from the people’s culture, and as a result, they were respected and supported.
There was no clear separation between legal and other norms of conduct in African law.
(1974, Holleman). The way the law was enforced differed from location to area, although it was usually done communally. Adjudication frequently considered the full social context in order to eliminate the source of dispute and reconcile the litigants and the community as a whole. As a result, the goal of pre-colonial adjudication was reconciliation, and the most common sanctions were compensation and reparation.
In cultures with decentralized authority structures, the use of imprisonment was uncommon. In societies with well-developed stratification systems, however, the use of imprisonment was common. In Nigeria, for example, prison awareness existed among the Yorubas in the west and the Hausa-Fulanis in the north, where well-developed social hierarchies distinguished the ruling classes from the common people.
According to Awe, the Yoruba’s “Ogboni House” operated as a form of prison, while the Edo’s “Ewedo” housed not just people to be sold, but also offenders who had to be imprisoned for a period of time. The Fulanis also set aside some structures for the incarceration of criminals and those who had been sentenced to death (Awe 1968).
Prisons were uncommon in other parts of Nigeria, particularly in the East and the decentralized societies of the Middle Belt. This shows that the formation of prisons in pre-colonial Nigeria was prevalent among civilizations with well-developed social hierarchies that distinguished the ruling and subservient groups.
Prisons were uncommon in communities where there was little or no clearly visible power structure or partrimonialism, and justice was administered communally primarily to accomplish reconciliation.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
The NPS, like many other government institutions in Nigeria, was founded by the colonial administration and played an important part in achieving colonialism’s principal goals.
These essentially consisted of conquering and politically dominating indigenous societies; reorganizing indigenous institutions and structures to serve the colonizers’ material needs; and organizing the colony to produce raw materials for British industries while also serving as a market for finished goods produced by these metropolitan industries.
The conquest and colonization of Nigeria in the second half of the nineteenth century was necessary to achieve these goals. The British preventive Naval Squadron closed in on Lagos again on August 6, 1861, forcing its King (Dosumu) to sign an already-drafted Treaty of Cession. Lagos was designated as a British Colony from that point forward.
The Lagos Colony’s initial concern was to defend “legitimate trade” and ensure the profits of British merchants. It also aimed to ensure the safety of British missionaries and other colonial auxiliary personnel. When Acting Governor McCoskry (a famous British trader in Lagos) was appointed in 1861, one of his first acts was to form a police force, which consisted of 25 constables at the time. This police unit was primarily responsible for patrolling the “trading depots” of British merchants.
In 1862, a police court, a commercial court, a criminal court, and a slave court were founded by Freeman, who succeeded McCoskry as Governor. The police court dealt with all minor matters, while the criminal court, presided over by the stipendiary magistrate and aided by two British merchant assessors, dealt with the more serious matters. The slave court (staffed in the same way as the criminal court) heard matters involving slaves, whereas the commercial court, staffed entirely by British merchants, heard cases involving debts and contract breaches. Along with these courts, the prison arose as a necessary adjunct to theological law enforcement equipment. By 1872, the Broad Street prison, which could hold 300 inmates, had been built.
As the colony expanded its control into the surrounding towns, it built jails along the way. The Native Courts Proclamation (enacted in the North in 1900, the West in 1901, and the East in 1906) also provided for the creation of native courts to administer justice in line with native law and tradition, as well as the construction of native jails. Ibadan had a prison staffed solely by a jailer and police officers who also served as escorts by 1899.
Other prisons at Old Calabar, Onitsha, Benin City, Sapele, and Degema were built by 1900. (Awe 1968) Lugard claims that one of his first steps in the North was to establish a “Civil Police Force to keep order in military cantonments” shortly after the protectorate of Northern Nigeria was established on January 1, 1900. Lugard established three types of courts, including the supreme court, provincial courts, and native courts, in addition to the Civil Police. A prison in Lokoja and another in Jebba were also built.
Lugard began the process of merging the administration of the entire country and combining the numerous government agencies when the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria merged in 1914 to establish the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. In order to legitimize the formation of prisons and control its operations, the Prisons Ordinance was created in 1916. The Governor was given the authority to establish and control prison operations, declare any facility in any location to be a jail, and designate the Director of Prisons and other officials to oversee and supervise the whole prison system under this Ordinance. This Ordinance also gave the Director of Prisons the authority to issue standing orders for the organization, discipline, clothing,etc, of inmates and staff of prisons.
In the beginning, there was a close relationship between the prisons and the police, particularly in the north. As Awe correctly points out, the Northern Inspector General of Police, who was also the ex-officio director of Northern Jails, was in charge of the prisons in the north. Indeed, in the North, the relationship between the police and the jail was so close that police officers were frequently the top officials in control of numerous provincial and divisional prisons, and in other circumstances, police officers performed warder tasks in some prisons (1968:11).
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
In general, colonial prisons were highly militarized. Many of the colonial directors of prisons were former army officers, and it is safe to infer that they carried with them a military mindset of regimentation and authoritarianism to the post. This definitely slowed the growth of resocialization and reformation-oriented jail tradition. It was not an accident that colonial prisons (and police forces) were fashioned after a militaristic and authoritarian model; it was the imperative of a foreign and tyrannical ruling elite to conquer and subordinate the indigenous people.
Early colonial prisons were associated to several other issues. The rudimentary penal concept of confinement and containment was used in these facilities. They lacked appropriately educated workers, and the food and sanitation conditions were appalling, resulting in extremely high mortality rates. The infrastructure was substandard and insufficient for any meaningful classification of criminals. Prison staff working conditions were so terrible and unappealing that the jails became a dumping ground for failures. “Directors of Prisons in the Southern Provinces were frequently administrative officers who had failed their language test, or ex-service personnel with no idea of prison tactics,” according to Awe. (1968:12).
The prison structures were poor, and their only purpose was to confine and deprive. Tailoring, shoemaking, smithery, and printing were taught at the Lokoja and Kaduna prisons by 1926, while vocational training began in the South as early as 1917. However, the facilities offered to these trades were inadequate and limited. The problem of widespread corruption and perversion of justice at all levels was also linked to the NA jails. Many of the Warrant Chiefs selected by the colonial government had no legitimate claim to royalty or nobility, and were sometimes outsiders, ex-slaves, or plain “scoundrels.”
These employed the local police and prisons to extract tribute, intimidate opponents, distort the course of law, and generally terrorize the population (see Afigbon 1966; Beer 1976; Williams 1976; Tamuno 1970). In the 1920s and 1930s, the exploitative acts of the colonial administration and its middlemen sparked widespread public outrage and protests.
The army and police brutally suppressed these protests, and many protestors were arrested and imprisoned (See Ahire 1991). This implies that the jails were primarily used by the colonial state as a detention facility for indigenous demonstrators against offensive colonial policies. People naturally regarded the prison as a symbol of colonial oppression and attacked it physically in order to free the detainees.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
After replacing Lord Lugard as Governor in 1931, Sir Donald Cameron began about reforming the entire administration in light of the 1920s disasters. The Native Children Ordinance, passed in 1932, made it legal to separate juvenile offenders from adult criminals. As a result, a Borstal was created in Enugu to house juvenile offenders. In 1933, a new Native Authority Ordinance was enacted, with the goal of giving NAs more authority over the upkeep of order in their communities. Following this Ordinance, several additional NA prisons were built. Lieutenant Colonel Mabb was also named Director of Prisons in the South by Governor Cameron. Mabb fought tirelessly to merge the North and South’s jail departments into an one entity with headquarters in Enugu. It was also during the tenure of office of Mabb that the Prison Warders Welfare Board was formed to pursue the welfare of warders.
The reforms began by Mabb were continued and even intensified by his successor, Mr. R.H. Dolan (1946-1955). As a seasoned prison officer who had served in many other British colonies, Dolan brought immense wealth of experience to the job. He sought to replace the penal philosophy of custody and retribution with that of reformation and rehabilitation. This, of course, involved the restructuring and reform of the entire prison system. Awe (1968) notes that Dolan introduced the following reforms in the prison system:
• He moved the headquarters of the prisons from Enugu to Lagos to ease Liaison with other government departments.
• He made the classification of prisoners a declared prison policy by 1947.
• By 1949, he introduced programmes of vocational and moral education in prisons, which were handled by qualified teachers and evangelists of the Christian and Muslim faiths.
• By 1947, provision was made for conjugal visits, and an earning scheme was also introduced for long-term first offenders. Recreational facilities like football games, cinema shows and lectures on selected topics were introduced for the relaxation of prisoners.
• An organization to assist discharged prisoners was formed, and three aftercare officers were appointed to attend to discharged prisoners.
• By 1948, four reformatory schools were opened in Lagos, and part of the PortHarcourt prison converted into a Borstal to aid the training of juvenile delinquents.
• The training school for warders was established in Enugu in 1947. Educated wardresses were also appointed to take charge of female convicts on the same terms as their male counterparts. The conditions of service of all warders were generally improved.
• In 1953, an open prison was opened at Kakuri in Kaduna to house long-term first offenders and give them vocational training mainly in agricultural pursuits.
• Attempt was made to build bigger prisons to avoid congestion, and to close down some NA prisons which could not operate efficiently.
These changes occurred during the time between colonial authority and self-government, when the colonial administration was attempting to demilitarize its influence over the public by introducing more “civil” and legalistic means of control. At this point in history, the appointment of a civilian Director of Prisons is doubly instructive. Dolan’s efforts to restructure the entire prison system and replace the criminal ideology of incarceration and vengeance with one of reform and rehabilitation mirror broader changes in colonial society.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
THERAPY VERSUS CONTROL:
Two models are in sharp contention over the conceptualization of prisons and their role in society. These are the therapeutic and the social control models. Functionalist social science has led the way in portraying prisons as institutions for the therapeutic treatment and reformation of criminals and social misfits. This view is contingent 42 Annals of The Social Science Council of Nigeria, No. 7, January-December, 1995 upon the conception of crime as deviation from accepted social norms, and criminals as non-conformists to social expectations on account of inadequate or improper socialization by primary socializing agencies, particularly the family.
The prison is, therefore, perceived as a form of benign intervention by the State to correct behavioural problems which over-burdened or malfunctioning families are unable to curb. The therapeutic model simplistically assumes that there is general consensus over what constitutes appropriate norms of conduct in society. By so doing, it erroneously glosses over important distinctions based on class, race, gender, region, etc., which affect the perception of what conduct is appropriate in different situations. The perception of society as ‘an undifferentiated totality with uniform social values which encourages conformity and discourages deviation from these values is a common error of this position. And yet, it is on the basis of these untenable assumptions that prisons are viewed as agencies for the treatment and reformation of offenders.
This model, therefore denies offenders responsibility for their actions, and portrays them as persons suffering from psychological or psychiatric illnesses who need treatment and reformation. The treatment proposed is for states or conditions which may not appear to be problematic to those being treated, and may also be for long and indeterminate periods raising questions of justice and fairness (Morris 1980;Platt, 1978). Finally, there is no conclusive scientific proof that prisons are of any significant therapeutic value, going by the high reconviction rate of those who have previously been imprisoned (Kittrie 1971).
Radical and Marxist social science rejects in its entirety, the conception of prisons as therapeutic institutions and posits more convincingly that prisons should be understood as a part and parcel of the coercive apparatus of the State for the control of dominated groups and classes. From this point of view, prisons are perceived as co-extensive with other coercive State apparatus such as the police, courts and the military, which serve the explicit purpose of coercing and subjugating subordinate groups in accordance with the moral and material dictates of the ruling class.
Far from being agencies for therapy, prisons are viewed as agencies for the coercive control of the criminal, radical, dangerous or uncooperative groups which threaten the established order. The prison institution mirrors the nature and effectiveness of social control in the larger society, and its examination can shed light on the nature of the society’s morality and its distribution of social power. The social control model examines the history of the emergence and role of the modern prison institution to demonstrate the close affinity between prisons and the moral and material interests of specific ruling classes. According to this position, the emergence in Europe of the modern prison as a State institution early in the nineteenth century should be viewed within the context of the rise of industrial capitalism and the capitalist ruling class.
Prior to this date, there were no State prisons, and jails were privately owned either by the church or feudal landlords for the custody of those awaiting trial. Such jails were also used to secure the payment of debts owed to the church or the crown, and were often leased to jailers who administered them with maximum brutality. Prisoners were used as a source of cheap labour for the feudal lords, and were made to pay a fine on admission and another on discharge. The emergence of state prisons during the early part of the nineteenth century should be viewed within the context of the rise of the capitalist ruling class, and its attempt to stamp its authority and control over the entire fabric of the society. The Agrarian revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had initiated changes in the feudal mode of production which influenced the organization, character and composition of European prisons. The mechanization and commercialization of agriculture, along with increased industrialization and urbanization which took place during the industrial revolution completely revolutionized social life and led to changes in the institution of prisons.
The break-up of feudal relations following these changes displaced a large mass of peasants and labourers. The suppression of monasteries and the decline of guilds also bred thousands of beggers and paupers who congregated in urban slums. Melossi and Pavarini (1981) note that the breakup of bands of feudal retainers and the forcible expropriation of commoners from the land created a proletariat that could not easily be absorbed by the emerging capitalist system. As a consequence, some of them became beggers, robbers, prostitutes, paupers, vagabonds, etc. The modern prisons emerged to meet this challenge. In their earliest forms, the prisons were called workhouses; and functioned to confine vagrants, idlers, paupers and petty criminals.
The inmates wither segregated by age, sex or health status, and virtually all of them received poor feeding and medical attention. Social relations within these workhouses were characterized by assaults and immorality, while punishments were harsh and brutal. There was no question of therapy or reformation; instead, the emerging capitalist class exploited these workhouses as sources of cheap and abundant labour. At the same time, the workhouses served to confine and control those who were a potential danger to private property. In this sense little distinction was made between the criminal and the propertyless classes, as both were a danger to private property. The concept of prisons that was exported to the colonies from Europe was fashioned along these lines.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
ABOUT THE NIGERIAN PRISON SERVICE
The NPS has undergone significant changes in organization, character and role
since the attainment of political independence in 1960. Immediately after the attainment of political independence, the department was reorganized, indigenized and placed under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since 1961, the position of Director of Prisons has been occupied by Nigerians as shown below:
| Name | Nationality | Tenure |
| C. W. Duncan | British | 1920 – 1921 |
| E.L. Sallier | British | 1921 – 1925 |
| F.W. Garvey | British | 1925 – 1932 |
| V.L. Mabb | British | 1932 – 1945 |
| R.H. Dolan | British | 1946 – 1954 |
| M.K. Carew | British | 1954-1961 |
| W.G. Francis | British | 1961 |
| F.S. Giwa-Osagie | Nigerian | 1961 – 1972 |
| J.I. Adapoyi | Nigerian | 1972 – 1975 |
| A.A. Ahmadu | Nigerian | 1975 – 1986 |
| M.A. Egu | Nigerian | 1986 – 1991 |
| L. Ojo | Nigerian | 1991 – 1994 |
Following the Gobir Report of 1966 on the unification of prisons, Government took over
all the NA prisons and fully integrated them into the Federal system of prisons with effect
from 1st April 1968.
In 1971, the government released the White Paper on the Reorganization of the Prisons Department and the integration of Native Authority Prisons which charged the department with the responsibility of identifying “the reasons for the anti-social behavior of offenders”, and to “teach and train them to become useful citizens in a free society”. This White Paper was followed by Prison Decree No. 9 of 1972 which emphasized “secure custody” and even made provision for the application of “hard labor” to certain categories of prisoners. Clearly, the objective of training useful citizens which are emphasized by the White Paper is inconsistent with the emphasis placed by the 1972 Decree on “custody” and “hard labor”.
This Decree also vests the power to make standing orders for the “good order, discipline and welfare of prisons” in the Head of Federal Military Government.11 In 1986, the Government again passed Decree 14 which created the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Board (CIPB). That Decree transferred the power to make Standing Orders for the good order, discipline, and welfare of the prisons to this Board. This Board also handles the recruitment and promotion of members of the three departments. The NPS has again been recently reorganized. Since 1988, the operations of the department have been split into six directorates, each under a Deputy Director of Prisons.
These are Inspectorate, Technical, Finance, and Administration, Medical, Welfare, and Commerce. In addition to this, the prisons in each state of the Federation form a State Command under a Comptroller of Prisons. The 30 States12 of the Federation and Abuja are grouped into six zones, each under an Assistant Director of Prisons. The zones are Zone A – Lagos; Zone B – Kaduna; Zone C – Bauchi; Zone D – Minna; Zone E – Owerri and Zone F – Ibadan.13 The number of prisons has also increased significantly, but the growth in the convict population has persistently outstripped the growth in the number of prisons. In 1976, there were 121 prisons and 229 lock-ups which contained an average monthly population of 25,899.
In 1979, while the number of prisons and lock-ups remained the same, the average monthly prison population had shot up to 34,770. In 1981, there were still only 121 prisons and 228 lock-ups, but surprisingly, the average monthly prison population had leaped to 38,477. In 1984, there were 127 prisons and 233 lock-ups which housed an average monthly prisons population of 5 3,571, which total prison capacity stood at 28,151. Finally, in 1986, there were 130 prisons and 233 lock-ups which contained an average monthly population of 56,721 prisoners. The picture of prison overcrowding that emerges from these figures is frightening and has grave consequences for any elaborate program of offender classification and reformation. Another disturbing dimension of prison overcrowding in Nigeria is the fact that well over half (i.e 67 percent) of the prison inmates consist of persons awaiting trial.
Besides actual prisons and lock-ups, the NPS also consists of three staff training schools located at Kirikiri, Enugu, and Kaduna; two Borstal institutions located at Abeokuta and Kaduna; eight prisons farms located in different parts of the country; and a modern staff college at Kaduna. The sheer variety of the institutions controlled by the department reflects the increasing complexities in its organization and functions. There is a strong drive within the department to educate and develop its personnel, improve its operations and image, and generally to modernize. In this respect, the contemporary NPS has gone far ahead of its colonial predecessor in the quest for high standards of professional competence.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
PROBLEMS OF NIGERIAN PRISON SERVICE
In its determined pursuit of modernization, the NPS faces numerous material, logistical and operational problems;
1. Prison Overcrowding and shortage of prisons due to the overabundance of unnecessary prisoners.
2. Shortage of residential and office accommodation
3. Inadequate supply of materials and tools for prison industries and farms
4. Insufficient! Stores for prison staff and inmates.
5. Lack of medical facilities for prisoners and even staff; shortage of vehicles for conveying prisoners to courts and hospitals
6. Archaic prison buildings with inadequate or non-functioning facilities
7. Demoralized /Unpaid Staffs- Nigerian prison staff are highly underpaid, understaffed and undertrained. There are no reasonable staff benefits and prison staff also undergo stress of long working hours . Corruption involving prison officials in their relationship with prisoners is also a major problem. This includes receipt of bribes from rich in-mates, stealing from the ration of in-mates food, trading in illegal substances etc.
8. Lack of communication equipment
9. Nigerian prisoners work in prison factories but the issue of wages payable and other entitlements are shrouded in secrecy.
In contemporary Nigeria, these problems are not unique to the NPS but afflict many other government departments and parastatals. They can, therefore, be deemed to be common problems associated with “developing” economies. There is another problem faced by the NPS which is more fundamental and deep-seated. This is the problem of the philosophical basis for its existence and operations:
Has the NPS abandoned the patently custodial and retributive posture of its colonial counterparts for an alternative penal philosophy that is more suited to contemporary times? What is this alternative penal philosophy?
What are the chances of success? Limitations of space and time will not allow us to answer these questions exhaustively but brief answers will be attempted here.
Official NPS sources would like us to believe that its primary role is “ensuring the safe custody of offenders, their reformation and rehabilitation”, and that these “functions are carried out through carefully designed and articulated administrative and rehabilitative programs aimed at inculcating discipline, respect of law and order and the dignity of honest labor”.
Everywhere, the NPS parades treatment, resocialization, and restoration of inmates into society as the primary goals of the system. The NPS, therefore, assumes the posture that imprisonment for mere custody and deprivation, as was common under colonialism, is archaic and outdated and that it has already embraced the noble philosophy of reformation and rehabilitation.
Much of this claim is made without sufficient understanding of the twin concepts of reformation and rehabilitation. Reformation refers to measures calculated to impart moral improvement in a person’s character so that he will be less inclined to re-offend in the future. To be deemed effective, reformative treatment should produce some stable (not just transient) alterations in the offender’s character, so that when represented with tempting opportunities to repeat his offense, he will decline even without external threats or pressures (Walker 1980). Rehabilitation is often mistaken for reformation, but the two mean different things. Rehabilitation refers to post-release efforts made to make it easier for the offender to resettle (or be resettled) in the society (See Ahire 1989).
The argument here is not that the NFS should abandon all other objectives and concentrate exclusively on reformation. To be sure, every prison is concerned with the safe custody of its inmates. The problem, however, is the extent to which a system that is designed and equipped with custody in mind can realistically embrace and operate reformative programs within a strict custodial setting. It is inconsistent and even contradictory for one and the same system to lay equal emphasis on secure custody and reformation, especially as the physical and human resources required for each differ.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF PENOLOGY IN NIGERIA
1. NPS will have to squarely confront the problem of philosophical direction. It must, at this stage, be decided how much emphasis should go to each of reformation and punitive custody.
2. The entire structure, organization, and facilities of the NPS should be made consistent with the preferred penological policy and direction.
3. Prison reform cannot take place in isolation from the reform of the entire criminal justice system, in so far as the problems that affect it originate from these other organs. The whole must be tackled before its parts can function effectively.
4. Adoption of Restorative Justice:
NOTE: Restorative justice is a non-custodian justice delivery initiative that has recorded great success in conflict resolution and crime/deviance adjudication. It strongly encourages impartial settlement of cases within the community where both victims of crime and their offenders reside, in that way reducing the intractable problem of prison overcrowding as guilty offenders are rather meted with a treatment-based alternative to imprisonment penalties.
This is done having given the disagreeing parties and their family members an unbiased audience, fair hearing, and guaranteed chances of full participation in the deliberations and decision-making.
5. Facilities for Rehabilitation- Warren Burger, former Chief Justice of the United States stated succinctly that to put people behind walls and bars and do little or nothing to change them is to win a battle but lose a war. He went further to assert that it was not only wrong but expensive and stupid. The NPS should have facilities to transform the individual criminal into a normal, law-abiding citizen by transforming the individual’s attitude to work, his physical training, moral attitude, state of mind, and moral conduct among other factors.
6. Adoption/ Improvement on “Prison Work” in Nigeria:
In England, the Prison Rules states that the purpose of the training and treatment of convicted prisoners shall be to encourage and assist them to lead a good and useful life. Furthermore, convicted prisoners are required to do useful work for ten hours a day, and arrangements are to be made to allow prisoners to work, where possible, outside the cells and in association with one another.
Prison training should develop a sense of personal responsibility and prisoners working inside the prisons should have normal rates of pay and conditions of work. Out of these earnings, after deductions for the cost of food and lodging, a prisoner could even send money to his family and save for his release.
Penology in Nigeria: History; Origin; Problems; Solutions; Reforms; Development
Sources:
The Origin, Development And Role Ofthe Nigerian Prison System- P. T. Ahire
The Death Penalty as a Penological Policy under the Nigerian Criminal Law: An Appraisal- Destiny Irueghe Aisekhaghe**
Challenges of Imprisonment in the Nigerian Penal System: The Way Forward– Shajobi-Ibikunle, D. Gloria
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