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Declining Prison Facilities As Impediment To The Rehabilitation Of Offenders
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According to Federal Government of Nigeria (1989), some of
the specific objectives of rehabilitative services in Nigerian prisons
are to: ensure effective management of crisis situation of the prison
inmates; an appropriate training for the prison inmates in order to
reduce dependency; and promote the provision of adequate and accessible
recreational and sporting facilities for the prison inmates.
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. In order to accomplish these
goals, prison inmates are encouraged to participate in rehabilitative
programmes made available to them while in prison. This is crucial for
prison inmates especially because many of them entered the prisons more
socially, economically and educationally disadvantaged (Chaturvedi,
2006; Paranjape 2011; Pettit, 2012). The key to success in a free
society for many of these socially, economically and educationally
disadvantaged prison inmates is rehabilitation. There is no better way
to help prison inmates re-enter the larger society successfully and
break the in-and-out of jail cycle than to provide them with skills that
they need to succeed on the outside world. Schuller (2009) describes
how offenders often lack human, social and identity capital, and that
engaging them in education can help on all three of these levels beyond
increasing their ability to acquire qualifications (human capital).
Clark and Dugdale (2008) assert that learning and skills might
contribute something even more fundamental than reducing re-offending.
Improving literacy skills might have the “potential for restoring to
society those people who are excluded from full citizenship because they
have yet to attain functional literacy. In short, reading interventions
for offenders are justified not by reference to human wrongs but by
reference to human rights†(Rice and Brooks, 2004: 2). Brooks similarly
writes “Western governments … place less emphasis, but should place
more, on the need for good basic skills as a human right so that
everyone can fulfil their potential and therefore take a full role as
private individuals, citizens, family members and employees – and
probably earn more†(Brooks, 2010: 191). Enhanced personal development
should be the central goal of learning (Schuller, 2009); and being
individually empowering (Reuss, 1999); learning can have very positive
effects on mental health (Field, 2009). Furthermore, offenders could
benefit from acquiring the ability to better manage their own health
needs (substance abuse, mental health) including learning to use health
services to good effect (Schuller 2009). Research on offender
perceptions, although limited, has highlighted some of the potential
wider positive impacts of basic skills learning programmes, such as
gains in self-esteem, self-confidence and motivation; having access to
computers; and receiving encouragement for their progress (Adult
Learning Inspectorate, 2004). Educational achievement, then, can have
more than just direct, instrumental benefits. Arts based courses may
have a distinct and important contribution to make, not least through
links made with charities and voluntary organisations. Research into the
impact of music based programmes for offenders in prisons found clear
benefits and improvements in engagement with education more widely,
interpersonal skills, improvements in social skills and relationships
with prison staff and a decrease in aggressive behaviours. Some of the
important features identified by offenders and staff which were seen to
contribute to these benefits were participation in shaping the learning
experiences, negotiating with others and sharing achievement through
performance (Wilson et al., 2009).
With this in mind the researcher
has sought to understand, through this inquiry, how the known risks of
re-offending could be reduced and re-integration improved. An important
contextual factor in the current delivery of rehabilitative programmes
and services is that of inadequate rehabilitative facilities. This
factor has resulted in a significant increase in the prisoner
re-offending in recent years. Individual offenders who serve their whole
time – some people do not even get a parole term – are simply released
from prison without any assistance whatsoever (Narelle, 2010). A major
consequence of inadequate rehabilitative facilities is diminished
accessibility to prison programmes and services.
Despite calls for
more comparative studies on penal institutions and inmates, the dominant
axis of comparison remains the Anglo-American. Developing countries are
arguably systematically excluded from comparative studies (King and
Maguire, 1994; Weiss and South, 1998). While criminologists and
practitioners have been active in the field of penal reform in
developing countries, their reports remain limited to description and
criticism with little by way of explanation or analysis. The tone of
voice emanating from prisons in Africa notes that prisons are
overcrowded, conditions are appalling, health is threatened, justice is
slow, two-thirds of prisoners are waiting trial/not convicted, violence
is the norm, and human rights are routinely violated (Aiyedogbo,
1988;Omorotionwman, 2005; Wines, 2005; Agomoh and Ogbozor, 2006; Sarkin,
2008; Amnesty International, 2008; Tenibiaje, 2010; Davidson and
Chiemele, 2012). These voices, however, fail, of course, to tell us much
about causes, dynamics or processes. Thus, this study takes as its
starting point the need to account for prisons as institutions
established to help inmates to get over their social handicaps and to
remove the stigma that darkens their present and future life through
rehabilitation. It is now widely acknowledged that rehabilitation
schemes in prisons have been neglected by researchers seeking to study
prisons despite repeated statements of their importance (Hawkins, 1976:
85; Thomas, 1978: 58–62; Liebling and Price, 2001: 4). Most studies of
the prisons have been concerned with the sociological analysis of the
prison as a social system and have examined the social structure, role
and normative system, and value orientation of inmates (Goffman, 1961;
McCorkle and Korn, 1954; Clemmer, 1958; Schraq, 1954; Civil Liberty
Organization, 1995). These studies have developed propositions
concerning the effect of prisons on both the institutional and post
institutional behaviours of inmates. A number of studies (for example,
Obioha, 1995; Adetula et al., 2010; Tenibiaje, 2010; Tanimu, 2010) have,
hitherto, shown that contact with the prison institution in Nigeria
makes the less hardened individuals to be more hardened in criminal
activities upon release, with more tendencies than not, to relapse to
criminal activities, which generates high frequency of recidivism.
This
study is justified because prison inmates are members of the larger
society whose movement are restricted. The prison aside serving as
custody for convicted people doubles as a rehabilitative centre.
Functional prison facilities, no doubt play a vital role in the
rehabilitation process. This study, therefore, becomes imperative, in
that its findings will reflect the kind of attention the prison system
in Nigeria receives from the public and policy makers. It is assumed the
findings will either leave the policy makers fulfilled or further
challenged; and bring about a general awareness for rehabilitative needs
of the interned offenders. Omorotionwman (2005) has reported that the
Nigerian prisons are in sordid state and that the conditions under which
prisoners live are pathetic, and do not meet modern and international
standards for prisons inmates all over the world. Although
rehabilitative policies are necessarily influenced by value, resource,
organizational, and political factors (Rezmovic, 1979), it is suggested
that programmes that seek to reduce criminal involvement should be
informed by the scientific data on what works. The goal should be to
develop a clearer understanding of what should be done to successfully
rehabilitate offenders (Rhine, 1998). Therefore, the question is “To
what extent can the prison rehabilitate inmates?†The answer to this
question will hopefully be achieved by empirically examining the
experiences of the inmates.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study was designed to establish whether declining prison facilities interfered with the rehabilitation of offenders in Ikoyi prison, Lagos State, Nigeria. An approach drawing from both quantitative and qualitative methodologies was adopted. A cross-sectional survey and in-depth interview of prisoners enabled the exploration of specific objectives formulated around the purpose of the study, which included the need to know how ‘needs assessment and classification of offenders correlated ... Continue reading---
