1.1 Early
prison systems: From pre-independence Nigeria society to 1960
Prison are penal institution created
with the objective of curtailing the freedom of movement and certain rights of
individuals whose liberty has been restricted by law. According to Elias1 He said that, they are condemned to
assure the successful administration of justice or the application of period
treatment.
The early development of prisons
world-wide, therefore, possessed little or no consideration for human rights as
it is presently concerned of and attested to both on international law and laws
of specific nations.
The above statement is important in
understanding the development and conditions of the Nigerian prisons and the
structural historical constrains that are embodied in the prison system. In
relation to human rights issue, Awe2 noted
the use of confinements and incarceration among some pre-colonial Nigeria
societies such as the TIV, the Yoruba, the Edo and the Fulani. However, the
modern prison system as we know it is a colonial creation.
The history of penal institution in
Nigeria started with the British administration of the Lagos colony on 1861.
The British colonial overlords
opened the broad street prison designed to accommodate 300 prisoners and
modeled on the British system in 1872.
Indigenous system of confinement and
incarceration were not taken into consideration, rather British prison system
was introduced and accepted hook, line and sinker understandably because Lagos
was a British colony. This remain so until 1876, the supreme court ordinance
that made provisions for the establishment of prison came into force. The
prison ordinance formalized the British colonial prison system in Nigeria with
the expansion of British rule, the early colonial prison system also expanded.
By 1909 prison had been established at old Calabar, Onitsha, Degama, Benin city
and sapele but like the colonial administration, the colonial prison system
responded to the specific nature of British, conquest of the various colonies
which constituted the present Nigeria.
The colonial prison system was a
decentralized system governed by different forms of administration ranging from
that of District commissioner and residents, to that of Native authorities run
directly by the colonial administration, while the other was run by the native
authorities. It is important to note that these courts and prisons were active
courts only in name, as the traditional native court and the system of
punishment of offenders still continues unrecognized by the British government.
As noted by Ekpe3, the British system of
prison administration thus set a standard which was very difficult to keep and
classifications initially in 1832 did not go beyond the division into
juveniles, felons, debtors and those awaiting trail. In 1885, some measure of
national training was introduced on the administrative level. A uniform penal
system was introduced after the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. the need for
cheap prison labour for the Eastern railways and the coal field, gave the
government an opportunity to revise the rough and ready system of prison
distribution and classification so as to have uniformity in the administration
and government of prison, in the whole country.
Two landmarks on the history of the
colonial prison system were remarkable on the administration structure and
conditions of the prisons. They were the impact of Frederick Lugard’s
administration especially after 1914 and the R.E Dolan reforms of the prison system which occurred after the second
world war from 1945 to 1955. they influence the post-colonial prison and
operations of the present day Nigerian prisons. The prison system under lord
Lugard consisted of the government prisons for keeping offenders convicted by
the British, established supreme and provincial courts. The prisons were
classified into three types, namely. Convict prisons for those sentenced to
more than two years imprisonment, provincial prisons for those serving term
which were less than two years, and divisional prisons for those serving short
term of up to six months.
The prisons according to Awe4 were controlled by director of prisons
and operation by prisons by administrative officers. As regards the condition in
the prisons and their staffing situation Awe5
said that the prison system suffered from lack of good staff, from poor health
and sanitation condition in the prisons and their staffing suffered from lack
of good staff, from poor health and sanitation conditions and from absence of
any clear idea of the purpose of prisons. The death rate in some of the government’s
prisons was so high in 1918 and 1919 that commission had to be set up in 1920
to investigate food and other matters affecting the health of the prisoner sin
the southern province. In another, the situation with regards to health and
sanitation was the same. There was no provision for guarantee facilities for
infected prisoners and it was only on 1926 that cells for isolated cases were
built in Kaduna and Jos prisons. Indeed in most northern end southern province
provision were not made for the segration of criminals who are lunatics four
other prisons structural conditions particularly nature of the buildings.
Created major problems for the effective classification of offenders. The
prison system under lord lugard which was dual. In structure and it was
deficient not only in terms of basic administrative and organizational
principles and practice but also in term of the existence of a clear cut philosophy
for the treatment of offenders and the observation of human rights.
Very few major changes occurred in
the development of the prison system until after the second world war. During
the tenure of Mr. R.E. Dolan as the Nigerian Director prisons, new directions
emerged between 1945 and 1955 contemporary practices and his structures were
put in place or conceived at his time. The main emphasis of Dolan reforms included
the treatment of offenders, the administration of the prison system and the
education and training of warders.
Apart from providing a ten years
plan of prison development, he entrenched the principle of classification of
offenders with in the same prison, paying particular attention to female
prisoners, who because of their small number often suffered most. According to
Awe, Dolan imitated attempts a concentration of female prisoners in major
prisons so as to ensure classification and correctional treatment on the basics
of gender. He also improved the education of prisoners, introduced an earning
scheme and after care provisions and expanded leisure facilities in prisons. A brostal
institution and four more reformatory
schools were opened throughout the trained and upgraded the quality of
prisons, personnel, particularly wardresses, employment the first time were
offered permanent employment and had included among them educated person. New
prisons planned under Dolan included the open prison at Kakuri and the maximum
security prison in Lagos.
They were responsible for the
transfer of the prison Headquarters from Enugu to Lagos and oversaw the
regionalization of the prison system under the mailperson constitution in 1954
as noted by Onyebuchi6.
The outline of the administrative
structure and content of the prisons system set in motion by Dolan has not
significantly changed even up till now.
1.2 Prison
system today: from 1960 to-date
There is death of up to date
information on the Nigeria prison system. However, available data7 shows that there are 129 prison of
various classes and 223 lock-ups. These includes one open prison, eight prison
farms, one brostal home and one brostal remand center. The lock –ups are
located on seven northern states. Lock-ups are mid-way jail houses catering for
prisoners awaiting trail or on remand and are located in places where the
distance to the nearest prison vis-Ã -vis judicial divisions where cases are
being head is rather far unfortunately, the prisons and lock-ups are currently
heavily overcrowded, under-staffed, under-funded and inadequately provided with
basic resources. According to a former minister of internal affairs in a Newswatch
magazine report8. About 58,000 prisoners
in the country are housed in prisons meant for 28,000 inmates.
The prison population is a sort of
“mixed grill. In the sense that it is made up of adult males and females, young
persons, children pregnant women, nursing mothers. Criminal and civil inmates,
debtors, detainees, first offender, that is, “star prisoner” and recidivists,
long and short term prisoners condemned prisoners and inmates waiting trial or
being held for safe custody9 the
groups are not represented equally. For instance, less than four percent of all
the total prison admissions are female10”.
More than 55 percent of the convicted prisoners are first offenders11. About 80 percent of the convicted
prisoners serve short-term imprisonment of under two years12. More than 60 percent of the total
prison admission are awaiting trial or being remanded in custody13. About 50 percent of the convicted
prisoners are between the age of 26 and 50 years14
and about 33 percent of all convicted prisoners are sentenced for stealing with
violence15.
Over congestion in the prisons has
been a long standing problem. And has often been identified, alongside poor
funding as one of the fundamental causes of much of the bestiality of
conditions in the prisons and the failure of Nigeria prisons in their
reformative and rehabilitative roles. This opinion was shared by the General
Gown administration16 when
it noted in 1971 that the gross inadequacy of accommodation for prisoners makes
it very difficult for the prison Department to discharge its primary function
of identifying the reason for the anti-social behaviour of offender and
teaching and training them to become useful citizens on the society.
Staffing is also inadequate with
staff strength of 18,000 catering to the needs of the above inmates. Most of
the staff are custodian with the number of medical and welfare staff grossly
inadequate.
Generally, the conditions
deteriorated day-by-day as over population of the prison has combined with
inadequate staff, poor physical structures, low morale and a general decrease
or, non –availability of other basic resources to create a nightmare of daily
deaths, epidemics and the limited or virtually non-existent observance of the
human rights of the inmates. The ages of most of the prisons range between
fifty and eighty years. In the absence of any major structural changes since
colonial period, there is a dangerous and inhuman condition of inmates in Nigerian
prisons.
On 20 December 1992, the chairman of
the presidential task force on prisons reform in Nigeria was quoted by the
Nigerian Television Authority, Kaduna, as saying that during their visits of
Nigerian prisons they discovered that about 90 percents were inherited from the
colonial administration and thus lack the basic infrastructure to enable them
perform effectively.
In a submission to the Nigerian
human right commission of July 1996, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) called
for reshaping of the prison system17
It noted that Nigerian prison system
suffers from a basic lack of humanity. The reason for this according to CLO
includes the colonial legacy of repressing upon which the institution was
founded, poor working conditions inadequate training and motivation,
manipulation of the agencies by successive governments in the country to
silence opposite.
Nigerian prison authorities are
reticent about prison funding with the result that figures on funding is
scarce. The literature Nigeria prison service Annual Report 1984/86, provides a
picture of poor funding or Nigerian prisons.
This manifested in the fact that
prisons are deprived of adequate and qualitative foods, clothing, beddings,
medical care, e.t.c.
There is also the deprivation of meaningful
rehabilitative training programmes due to lack of money to purchase or repair
broken equipment and other facilities. Nigerian prisons by saying that the
prison system is considered a low priority era by the government, hence, the
poor funding upon which most other factors depends.
Another major problem of the prisons
system is that there has been over- use of imprisonment as a means of
punishment. This can be appreciated for the fact that about one third of the
convicted prisoners are incarcerated for stealing without violence about 80
percent are serving not more than two years of imprisonment, and more than 55
percent are first offenders18. The
presence of pregnant mothers and nursing mothers, children and mentally
disordered persons former example attesting to the above fact19
Added to this, is the fact that more
than 60 percent of the total prison admission are awaiting trial being remanded
in custody20.
Without expansion of accommodation
and other facilities for the inmates, the prison population far outstrips the
available space for the inmates.
There is naturally, severe strain on
the available facilities causing prison conditions to get progressively worse.
On prison decongestion, Amadi21 noted
that the court can sentence an offender to one hundred naira fine or
alternatively to three months imprisonment. This is within the law because the
law provides for these two sentences in the alternative. The judges can fully
utilise alternative sentence at their disposal within the law to decongest the
prisons. The prison statutory tasks of ensuring the safe custody of offenders
as well as their reformation and rehabilitation have been hampered by the
constraints posed by a lost of problems stated in the Nigerian prison service.
Annual report22 is as follows.
1. Acute
shortage of drugs and ambulances in prison clinic leading to high incidence of
epidemics and high morality rate among prisoners.
2. Acute
shortage of staff resulting form retirement, dismissals, resignations, death
embargo and recruitment, et.c
3. Abandonment
of capital project midstream, thus aggravation prison congestion.
4. Continued
use of bucket latrines which constitute health hazards in some prison.
5. Continued
use of bucket wall instead of concrete parameter wall, which discourages
escapes.
6. Delay
in the determination of convicts appeal leading to convicts spending a
substantial part of their term of sentence before the determination of their
appeal.
7. Inadequate
funding for the maintenance of existing infrastructure and equipment.
8. Gross
inadequacy of essential such as blankets, beds, soaps, disinfectants,
prisoners, uniforms. e.t.c.
9. Inadequate
residential and office accommodation for staff near the prison to enable staff
to respond immediately to crisis situation in prison during rights and escapes.
10. Lack of
promotion of eligible staff with the resultant low morale and frustrations, and
by extensions, low productivity.
11. Lack of
vehicles to convey staff and prisoners as well as material to where they are
badly needed and far efficient administration.
The above problems have given
consequence far the realisation of the stated statutory function of the
prisons.
Empirical Review
ABAKALIKI AS A CASE
Abakaliki
prison was build in 1916 [23] under
the colonial administration it has the prison capacity of
-------------------under currently the table below indicates the number of the
inmate therein including those on awaiting trial.
ABAKALIKI PRISON
|
Subject
matter
|
male
|
Female
|
total
|
|
Awaiting
trial
|
675
|
19
|
694
|
|
Convicts
|
55
|
1
|
56
|
|
Grand
total
|
|
|
770
|
REMARKS
From the above only 56 out of 770
have been trial and convicted. The offence allegedly committed range form rape,
stealing, robbery, communal clashes and few murder cases. Some of the awaiting
trial inmates have spend not less than 5-7 years in prison not trial. Many of
them are remanded in prison custody on the order of the breachs in most case
the Nigerian government conceded to their lack of judgment to trial the offence
alleged against the accused in the charge but proceeded to remand the accused
persons. This practice has contributed in no small measure in congesting the
prisons in Nigeria.
Nigerian prisons are congested with
about 36, 934 Awaiting Trial prisons as at May 2012 see Daily sun, editorial,
Monday July 23, 2012 p. 18 [7].
GAP IN KNOWLEDGE
In Nigeria prison system those who
are in awaiting trails in stayed more than their normal prison terms based in
the nature of their offence if it is a case of stealing which is 3 years
improvement by the time such an inmates will be in awaiting trial he or she ill
be on awaiting trial more than their normal prison terms for example you see
somebody, who is under awaiting for 7 years which is more than the normal
sentencing. The Nigerian government should look into the case of prison and
make sure that if any one is brought to the prison he or she should be trial
immediately and become convicted so that such an inmate will bean to serve his
prison terms than staying above the prison term which is not proper whereby
such an inmate stayed above his prisons term by the time he will be trialed and
is also convicted he/she will start all over to serve his prison term whereby
he has stayed more than that on awaiting trial which injustice in the society.
Prison
as a source of rehabilitation
Prison are called rehabilitation
centre. Which is meant they will become more learned than ever before as a
result of lack of space in the prison. You somebody who committed minor offence
and he will join together with hardened criminal instead of such a person to
change he will become more hardened and also became thorn on the flesh of the
society the capacity of some prisons are 400 but will be carrying about 600 to
650 which is not proper instead of the innocent once becoming reformed they
will turn to be hardened criminal due to inadequate facilities or that the
prison is carrying more than he required.
According to Gowon during his
administration he said that the condition of Nigerian prison and failure of the
Nigeria in their reformative and rehabilitative roles. Instead of one being
reform of hs bad behaviour he turn to be a harden criminal i.e becoming worst
of what he was before. This is as a result of over grouded or over congestion
in the prison. Secondly those who have no access to justice should be provided
with a lawyer so that they can have access to justice.
1 Elias T.O.
The Prison system in Nigeria,
Lagos: University of Lagos,
1968
2 Awe,
Bolenle, History of the prison system in Nigeria in T.O. Elias ed. The
prison system in Nigeria Lagos university
of Lagos, 1968.
3 Ekpe C.P.
Life after Sentence: rehabilitation and reintegration of discharged-prisoners.
In Obiora Ike, ed. The fantasy of human rights. Enugu CIDJAP. 1977 pp. 269-283
4 Awe, Bolane
op.cit
5 Ibid.
6 Onyebuchi;
restructuring the prison system in Nigeria. Law reform: Journal of the
Nigerian Law Reform commission, No. 3 November 1983.
7 Federal
prisonso f Nigeria.
Annual report of the Nigerian prisons Services 1984 pp. 9-12.
8 Nigeria
prisons: Living in hells cover story, Newswatch magazine vol 9 no 25 19 June
1989 pp 12-15.
9 Adube J.
Nnamdi prison rights in Nigeria:
a critique
10 Annual
abstract of statistics 1981 pp 35-37 and Nigerian prison service annual report
1980-1981
11 Ibid
12 Annual
abstract of statistics, 1981 pp 36-37
13 Social
statistics in Nigeria Lagos
14 Op. cit
pp. 104
15 Nigerian
prisons services annual reports, 1980 and 1981.
16 Federal
Government of Nigeria.
A statement of Federal government policy on the re-organization of the prison
service and the integration off the federal, local government native
administration prisons. Lagos:
federal ministry of information 1971 pp.2.
17 Civil
liberties organization – towards a humane prisons system: submission CLO to the
Nigerian Human rights commission July and human rights in Nigeria Abuja;
National Human heights commission, 1998,.
18 Annual
abstract of statistics. Lagos,
1981 Pp. 35-38.
19
Ehonwa, Ozaze Lanre. Prisoners in the
shadows Lagos Clo 1993 Pp 137
20 Ehonwa,
Ozaze Lanre op. cit pp. 33-41
21 Amadi
G.O.S prisons decomgestion: the Nedd for alternative sentience the Judiciary,
in: Obiora Ike; ed the fantasy of human right. Enugu CIDJ 1997 Pp 195-222.
22 Nigeria
Prison annual report 1984 Pp 5-6
23 Sources
Abakaliki Prison
7 Dailly
Sun, July 23rd, 2012 p. 18
REFERENCES
Annual abstract of statistics in Nigeria 1980. Also
Nigeria prison services annual report 1980/81 cited on p. 80 1993 J.U.S Vol. 6.
No. 4.
Black Law Dictionary sixth centennial edition
(1891-1991) P. 11194.
Human Rights watch: Prison conditions and the
treatment of prisoners @ http:/hrp.org/prison/unit.nations.html.
International covenant on civil political Rights
Ngozi Udombana “Rights of prisoners and detainees in
Nigeria.
The 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Prisons Act cap. P29, 2004
The African Charter on Human and People’s Ratification
and Enforcement Act Cap 10LFN, 1990 now cap A9 Vol. 1 LFN. 2004.
The propurt of prison system-what to Expect @
http:/wwhumanights.gov.an/social-justice/tracking/prisons-htm.
Prisons Act CAP 366 laws of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria 1990.
UN Human Rights Committee, general comment 21
paragraph 3 the human Rights Committee provides authoritative interpretations
of the ICCPER though the periodic insurance of periodicals.