CORRECTIONAL SERVICES AND INMATES REHABILITATION PROGRAMME IN ABAKALIKI CORRECTIONAL CENTER, EBONYI STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. Background to the Study

The aim of imprisonment according to section 2(4) of the Nigerian Correctional Act (2020) is to endeavor to identify the reason for anti- social behavior of the offenders; to train, rehabilitate and reform them to be good and useful citizens. It is therefore expected that the recidivism will decrease if the objective of imprisonment is achieved by planning and providing proper rehabilitation of inmates. This will enable them to be law abiding citizens of the society and engage in productive activities for their daily living on release from prison (Aja, 2014). Colonial prisons in Nigeria were not designed for reformation or rehabilitation rather prisons were intended to be punitive. Hence, prisoners were used mainly for public works and other jobs for the colonial administrators as a form of punishment. At the end of the Second World War (1939-1945), there was a remarkable shift in penal philosophy, particularly in colonial territories (Udemba, 2016).

The position of rehabilitation services in the administration, improvement and transformation of prisoners has continued to be a major concern in recent times. This concern is fronted by professionals such as academics, guidance and counselors, adult educators, psychologists, sociologists, social workers, administrators, security personnel, legal practitioners and medical doctors. Warren Burger, former Chief Justice of the United States cited in Shajobi-Ibikunle (2016) asserted that to put people in Correctional Center or confinement without doing something to change their attitude is to win a battle but lose a war. He went further to assert that it was not only wrong but uneconomical and insensible. The emphasis was no longer primarily on the punishment of criminals but there was also concern for their reformation and rehabilitation (Ugwuoke, 2016) observed that the Nigerian penal institutions are saddled with the function of performing contradictory roles. On the one hand, the Correctional Service are expected to reform and rehabilitate inmates; while on the other hand, they are equally expected to perform the retributive function of ensuring that the inmates are adequately punished for their crimes. Despite the fact that the Nigerian prisons service today, is assigned the onerous responsibility of ensuring the safe custody of offenders as well as their reformation and rehabilitation but huge part of the prisons’ activities favour retribution. In reaction to this, affirmed that the Nigerian Correction Centers is in a dilemma because rehabilitation and retribution practices are not compatible. It is to this effect that one wonders whether the inmates are actually rehabilitating convicts or are still depending on punitive practices (Uche, 2019).

To this end, Nigerian Correctional Services find it difficult to perform their statutory functions which include the custody of offenders as well as their reformation and rehabilitation (NPS, Annual Report, 2015). In developed countries like America, the inmates are engaged in vocations such as shoe making, carpentry, weaving and tailoring among others. There are institutional programmes which include a variety of activities, all of which can have an impact either directly or indirectly on the rehabilitation of offenders and their successful reintegration into the community after release. These programmes include among others recreational services(these have medical, humanitarian, social-psychological motives; they are structured to ease the pressure of confinement, making inmates more receptive to rehabilitation and less depressed, hostile and asocial), religious services(religious counseling and worship services), work services(related to the successful economic functioning of the institution and rehabilitative of offenders), academic and vocational services(this attempts to provide inmates with the skills necessary for adequate employment after release) and medical services(hospitals, full time physician or nurse, provision of drugs, the medical unit is also responsible for monitoring sanitary conditions and inmates dietary needs) (Inciardi, 2019).

Officially, it is claimed that the role of the Nigerian Correctional services is tripartite in nature. Firstly, the service is responsible for the safe custody of persons legally interned. Secondly, it provides treatment to them, and thirdly, it seeks to rehabilitate them. These necessitated the need to strengthen rehabilitation as the main objective of any correctional facility since most of the inmates will eventually be re-integrated back to live with the remaining part of the population (Igbo, 2014). The administration of this smaller but significant portion during their incarceration and application of rehabilitation programmes on them will go a long way in creating peaceful coexistence in the society when they are eventually released after the period of imprisonment. Various reformation programmes for prisoners are widely available across the world. Each of these programmes targets a group of offenders with peculiar needs for rehabilitation and reformation within the prison service (Nigerian Prison Services, 2014).

The rehabilitation service provides learning in jail about various aspects of life to enable law breakers become law abiders after incarceration as well as have decent means of livelihood. However, Ayodele cited in Uche, Uche, Ezumah, Ebue, Okafor & Ezegbe, (2015) asserted that the rate of recidivism in Nigeria is a cause for concern. Rehabilitation of prison inmates has not had effect on them, as convicts became more hardened and dangerous contrary to societal expectations of rehabilitated individuals. The rate of recidivism, that is, ex-convict returning to prison is becoming alarming and a daily occurrence in Nigeria. Prison officers now have second time and serial offenders in the system to deal with. This cause of recidivism cannot be examined without critical evaluation of rehabilitation programmes within the Correctional system. Ineffective rehabilitation, resulting in high recidivism is uneconomical due to the fact that the government will have more inmates to cater for in terms of food, healthcare amongst others. However, Oroleye (2019) asserts that poor welfare of inmates impede their rehabilitation, due to poor administration. In addition, debate on other challenges affecting implementation of rehabilitation programmes are issues of concern. philosophy of the Nigerian Correction Service is that treatment and rehabilitation of offenders can be achieved through carefully designed and well-articulated administrative, reformative and rehabilitative programmes aimed at inculcating discipline, respect for the law and order and regard for the dignity of honest labour (Nigerian Prison Services, 2014).

An inmates without adequate rehabilitation opportunity through skills training and capacity building usually returns to the society which has incarcerated him or her as a hardened enemy of that society. Such an ex-convict is often full of desire for vengeance because he or she sees himself or herself as victimized rather than corrected. In addition, such an ex-convict is likely to do more harm than good to a society invariably perceived as an oppressive system. This condition explains to a very great extent why many Nigerian ex-prisoners end up as recidivists and the rehabilitation of inmates should begin from the very day they are admitted into the prison to the day they are discharged (Igbo, 2014). This is to ensure that they utilize the skills they acquired in the course of rehabilitation to live a law abiding life in the society.

1.2 Statement to the Problem

Despite the noble objectives of reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration which the Nigerian Correctional Service embarks in other to ensure inmates become changed persons, the realization of this objective has been obstructed by certain factors that the rate at which ex-convicts are returning to jail is alarming. Reformation of prisoners has not been effective as every year criminals who become more hardened and deadly are released as against changed individuals expected by the society (Civil Liberty Organization, 2018). In addition to this affirmed that Correctional Facility have in modern times become training ground and school for a new category of criminals and patterns of crime unknown to the society. In addition, (Civil Liberty Organization, 2018) reported that the prison is just where one learns one or two mistakes that led to one being arrested, so that inmates get smarter by sharing experience with more learned colleagues. Adelaja (2018), noted that prisoners left unoccupied with constructive and positive activities are likely to perfect their criminal activities through the learning of new tricks from other inmates. The claim that Nigerian Correctional Services are engaged in carefully designed and well-articulated reformative and rehabilitative programmes aimed at inculcating discipline and respect among convicts Nigerian Correctional Services, affirmed is not supported by the rule of retributive punishment which Correctional administrators have continued to enforce (NCS, 2020). Adjustment of discharged prisoners in Nigeria has become a huge problem because the society has come to view such discharged prisoners as social misfits who are not amenable to corrections. Such discharged convicts are therefore, stigmatized and treated as social pariahs.

This rejection by the society sometimes forces them back to crime. In addition, the view that the inmate who has served a longer amount of time in prison has had his tendencies toward criminality strengthened and is therefore more likely to recidivate than the inmate who has a lesser amount time. They argued that Correctional Centers are like schools of crime where one learns more crime from the peers (inmates). Some Correctional officials sometimes incite inmates to involve themselves in jailbreak because of the prevailing conditions (Adelaja, 2018). Inmates that embrace rehabilitation during their period of incarceration acquire skills that provide them with services, opportunities and employment on discharge. The prison authorities with the efforts of the government have provided various rehabilitation programmes in various prisons. These programmes range from adult literacy, tailoring, welding, carpentry, and farming among others. The study therefore was an effort to ascertain inmates perception of effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in Abakaliki Correctional Center, Ebonyi State.

1.3 Research Questions

In order to address the aforementioned problems as identified in the statement of the problem, the study is guided by the following questions:

1. What extent has correctional centres effectively perform rehabilitation role on inmates in Abakaliki Correctional centre?

2. What are the factors affecting inmates rehabilitation in Abakaliki Correctional Centre?

3. What strategies might be used to improve the rehabilitation of prisoners at Abakaliki Correctional Center?

1.4 Objectives to the Study

The general objective of this study will examine the inmates’ perception of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in the Nigerian Correctional Services with reference to Abakaliki correctional center; the specific objectives is to:

1. Unravel the extent to which correctional centres effectively perform rehabilitation role on inmates in Abakaliki Correctional centre.

2. Identify the factors affecting inmates rehabilitation in Abakaliki Correctional Centre.

3. Suggest possible strategies that could be adopted to boost inmate rehabilitation in Abakaliki Correctional Centre.

1.5 Significance to the Study

The study will have both theoretical and practical significance surface...

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