Page 1 of 13

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 11

December 2015

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 615

Assessing Offenders’Rehabilitation in Nigeria Prisons:

Problems and Solutions

Ugwuoke Kelvin Abuchi ; Otodo Ifeanyichukwu ; Nura Bello Sifawa

Psychological Services Unit Maximum Security Prison Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Ugwukev11@gmail.com

Department Of Sociology/Anthropology University Of Uyo Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria

josprison@gmail.com

Malumfashi Satellite Prison Katsina State, Nigeria

nura.sifawa@ssu.edu.ng

ABSRACT

There is a high rate of recidivism in Nigeria,

and this is as a result of the faulty rehabilitation

in the prisons. Rehabilitation services in

Nigerian prisons therefore, should be aimed at

increasing the educational and vocational skills

of inmates, and their chances of success upon

release. As a fall out, this study assessed

prisoners’ rehabilitation in Nigeria with

emphasis on the problems of the prison

rehabilitation in Nigeria. The study also did a

comprehensive literature review on prison

rehabilitation. The various rehabilitation

programmes in Nigerian prisons were

enumerated. Recommendations were made on

how to improve the rehabilitation of inmates in

Nigeria.

KEY WORDS: Rehabilitation, Prison, Prisoner,

Reintegration, Reformation, Assessing

INTRODUCTION

A prison can be sociologically defined as a

confinement where socially and legally interned

people who have wronged the society are kept

for reformation, rehabilitation and possible

reintegration. Ideally and as obtained in other

developed climes, the prison is the last place for

the transfiguration of those who the society dim

unfit to cohabit with it owing to the fact that

their continued stay in the society is inimical to

the continued co-existence of the members of

the society. Prisons are very important to the

survival and continued existence of every

society. Infact, the importance of prisons cannot

be over-emphasised (Ugwuoke, 2015).

Prisons are designed to keep custody of the

legally interned, and by doing so, it helps to

make the society safe from misdemeanants and

lawbreakers who disturbs the peace of the

society. Many are oblivious of this fact. When

criminals and other dangerous elements are

locked up in the prison, the society is insulated

Page 2 of 13

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 11

December 2015

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 616

from their nefarious activities, thereby making

the society safe for habitation and cohabitation.

Hence, the prison is a vital part of the security

set up of every society (Ugwuoke, 2015).

Not only does prison keep custody of the legally

interned, they go further to identify the causes of

their anti-social behaviour. The prison is like a

hospital where psychopathic deviates and people

who are in conflict with the law are treated.

Before treating a sick person, the doctor would

first of all identify the cause(s) of the ill-health;

in other words, there must be a diagnosis to

know the causative factor before administering

treatment. Ideally, every prison must have

behavioural scientists like the psychologists,

social workers, occupational therapists, guidance

and counselors, and so on. These professionals

are very important and necessary in the

operation of every prison, gaol, correctional

facility or penitentiary. The psychologist is of

paramount importance because he or she is a

behavioural engineer or modifier. The

psychologist employs psychological techniques

using psychological tests and psychotherapy to

indentify the real cause of the antisocial

behaviour of the legally interned. There are

factors that cause one to engage in social

deviation and criminality. Some of them could

be social, economic, and familial and so on. The

psychologist and social worker among others are

indispensible to the day-to-day operation of the

prison (Ugwuoke, 2015).

The core function of the prison is to reform and

rehabilitate prisoners. This is requisite for the

prison to achieve its mandates. Rehabilitation

entails the act and process of changing and

improving the behaviour of the legally interned.

The major aim of imprisonment is for

rehabilitation. And it is achieved through the use

of religion, psychology, counseling, vocational

and skill training, medical, recreation and

education. Most prisons have chaplains from

different religious organisations who help to

improve the spirituality of the legally interned.

Again, psychologists, social workers and other

behavioural scientists are employed in most

prisons to provide psychological services to the

inmates. Industries and workshops are basic

features in the prison. Most prisons are equipped

with workshops where inmates are trained in

vocational techniques, entrepreneurship, and

skills which will help them make a living after

they have left the four walls of the prison. It is

no news that many inmates, especially in

Nigeria and elsewhere have acquired basic and

higher education in the four walls of the prison.

Many inmates have become graduates while in

prison. This is the beauty of imprisonment.

Therefore, the prison is a centre for

rehabilitation of the socially deformed.

Rehabilitation is derived from the Latin word

rehabilitare which literally means ‘making fit

again’ (Wikipedia, 2015). In the prison context it

means readying prisoners to rejoin society after

Page 3 of 13

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 11

December 2015

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 617

serving their jail terms, as useful, productive and

law-abiding members of the wider community.

Rehabilitation is of the assumption that crime is

a behaviour which is causal. This means that

crime is not as a result of the person’s freewill,

but some factors which are as a result of nurture.

The decision to commit a crime is determined,

or at least heavily influenced, by the

environment, psychological development, or

biological makeup. People are not all the

same—and thus free to express their will—but

rather are different. These individual differences

shape how people behave, including whether

they are likely or not to commit crime. When

people are characterized by various

criminogenic risk factors— such as a lack of

parental love and supervision, exposure to

delinquent peers, the internalization of antisocial

values, or an impulsive temperament—they are

more likely to become involved in crime than

people not having these experiences and traits

(Wikipedia, 2015).

Rehabilitation is important on the assumption

that criminal behavior is caused and not merely

a freely willed, rational choice. If crime were a

matter of free choices, then there would be

nothing within particular individuals to be fixed

or changed. But if involvement in crime is

caused by various factors, then logically re- offending can be reduced if correctional

interventions are able to alter these factors and

how they have influenced offenders. For

example, if associations with delinquent peers

cause youths to internalize crime-causing

beliefs, then diverting youths to other peer

groups and changing these beliefs can inhibit

their return to criminal behavior.

Sometimes rehabilitation is said to embrace a

medical model. When people are physically ill,

the causes of their illness are diagnosed and then

treated. Each person's medical problems may be

different and the treatment will differ

accordingly; that is, the medical intervention is

individualized. Thus, people with the same

illness may, depending on their personal

conditions (e.g., age, prior health), receive

different medicines and stay in the hospital

different lengths of time.

Rehabilitation in prison shares the same logic:

Causes are to be uncovered and treatments are to

be individualized. This is why rehabilitation is

also referred to as treatment (Crewe, Liebling

and Hulley, 2011). Prison rehabilitation and

medical treatment are alike in one other way:

they assume that experts, scientifically trained in

the relevant knowledge on how to treat their

"clients," will guide the individualized treatment

that would take place. In medicine, this

commitment to training physicians in scientific

expertise has been institutionalized, with doctors

required to attend medical school. In prison

rehabilitation, especially in Nigeria, however,

such professionalization generally is absent or

only partially accomplished (Ugwuoke, 2013).