The Rehabilitation of Prison Inmates Through Vocational Skills Acquisition Programmes in North-west States, Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The main objective of this study is to assess the rehabilitation of prison inmates through vocational skills acquisition programmes in north-west states, Nigeria. Specifically the study aims:
- To determine the skills acquisition programmes that help to rehabilitate inmates in Tambawal Satellite Prison
- To evaluate the educational services help to rehabilitate inmates in Tambawal Satellite Prison
- To examine the recreational activities that help to rehabilitate inmates in Tambawal Satellite Prison
- To determine the social intervention services help to rehabilitate inmates in Tambawal Satellite Prison
- To determine the impacts of rehabilitation programmes on inmates in Tambawal Satellite Prison
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
The Nigerian criminal justice system stands on three legs: the police, the courts and the prisons. The effectiveness of the criminal justice system is measured by its ability to meet the goals of deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation and reintegration. The realization of such goals depends on the level of coordination among the various agencies of law enforcement. At the early stage of a crime, if the police effect an arrest, the arrestee becomes a “suspect”. If eventually the “suspect” is arraigned in courts, his or her title changes to “accused”. The “accused” remains innocent until the court proofs otherwise. If the “accused” is not discharged and acquitted after trial and is sentenced, the title changes to a “convict”. The sentence may involve fines, probation (supervised release), or incarceration (confinement). At this level, the prison takes him or her in as “an inmate”. Imprisonment thus becomes an act of legally restricting, limiting or confining a person. In Dambazau’s (1999) assessment, imprisonment is one of the widely used criminal justice disposal methods in Nigeria. For the purpose of this paper, a prison is defined as any building declared by law where suspected or convicted criminals are legally kept with the intention to transform them into responsible and law abiding citizens.
In pre-colonial Nigeria, history has told us about the availability of prisons, where people who deviated from the societal norms and values were either kept for trial or punishment. Among the Yorubas, there was a prison system in Ogboni House. In the Tivland, a building was set aside in the chief’s compound for offenders. There existed the Ewedo in the Bini Kingdom and the Gidan Yari among the Hausa-Fulanis. Individuals who sought redress from those who wronged them allowed the society to determine the type of punishment commensurate with the offence. Punishment was defended as permitting the offenders the feeling of having atoned for their actions while affirming among the law abiding members of society, the appropriateness of their noncriminal behaviour (Pursley, 1977). The advent of colonialism brought modern prisons to Nigeria. The prison system became organized along the British prison model. In 1872, the Broad Street prison was opened in Lagos with a capacity of 300 inmates (Alemika & Chukwuma, 2001).
After the amalgamation of 1914, the Colonial Authority promulgated the 1916 ordinance which empowered the Director of prisons to make standing orders for organization, discipline, control and general administration of staff and inmates (Dambazau, 1999). Prisons were categorized into three types, viz., the maximum security prisons, the provincial prisons and the divisional or native authority prisons. The maximum security prisons were in Kirikiri, Enugu, Calabar and Orji River. They have high walls around them and convicts who had long sentences to serve were incarcerated there. The provincial prisons were located at Owerri, Ogoja, Makurdi and Onitsha to custody inmates whose sentences were not more than two years. The Divisional prisons were located at Nsukka, Uyo, Itu, Okitipupa, Umuahia and Kano, to take care of inmates whose sentences were less than two years. Several amendments followed in the promulgation of the Laws of Nigeria 1948 and 1958.
After independence in 1960, it became necessary to reorganize the Prison Services in the country. The Native Authority/Divisional prisons were filthy or overcrowded and under staffed (Dambazau, 999). Some prisons in the control of the Regions were becoming instruments of political victimization (Otite & Albert, 2004). Experts from the United Kingdom were therefore commissioned to look into the reorganization of the Nigeria Prisons. The report of the commission resulted in the Federal Government White Paper of 1971 and subsequent promulgation of Decree No. 9 of 1972. The Decree which later became CAP 366 of 1970, laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gave legal backing for the unification and operation of Nigeria prison services.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, we would describe how the study was carried out.
Research design
The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Descriptive survey research design according to Nworgu, (2015), aims at studying a group of people or items by collecting and analysing data from a sample of the same group or items considered to be a representative of the entire population. This design is considered appropriate for this study because it helped in eliciting information from the respondents on the extent of participation of prison inmates in vocational skills acquisition programmes for self-reliance and sustainable economic growth in Sokoto State.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION DATA AND ANALYSIS
The data collected was subjected to descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation at the mean test value of 2.50, as presented in the tables below.
Research Question One: What are the skills acquisition programmes that are effective in rehabilitating inmates in Tambawal Satellite Prison ?
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDING, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
This study reveals that the rehabilitation programmes of inmates in sokoto state Prisons, Nigeria, as indicated by the research respondents include social intervention, skills acquisition, educational and recreational services. The findings of this study is in agreement with the research that found that the prisons reformation and rehabilitation of inmates can be actualized through programmes such as: social case and group work/intervention, recreational activities, educational and skills acquisition programmes (Nigeria Prison Service, 1989), which encourages their physical, educational, social and vocational capacities. This study reveals the different skills acquisition programmes that are available to inmates in the prisons, given their involvement in craft/art, tailoring, carpentry and farming skill activities. These findings support the study by Uche et al. (2015, p. 165) that the aim of prison skills acquisition activities is to provide inmates with various skills to empower and ensure their vocational supports on release. This is also supportive of Asokhia and Agbonluae (2013) that the skills acquired through rehabilitation programmes often help inmates to live a law abiding and meaningful life in the society.
This study also reveals that educational services are available to inmates in the prisons, given the provision of schooling materials, opportunities for reading and writing, participatory teaching and learning and availability of adult and literate educational programmes. This finding is supportive of Sutton (1993) that educational programmes provided in the prisons help to keep inmates meaningfully busy, change their attitudes or behaviour and enables employment and vocational skills for later life prospects. This is consistent with Asokhia and Agbonluae (2013) that the concerns for the rehabilitation of prison inmates include the provision of schooling materials and learning opportunities. The result of the study further reveals that inmates were also engaged in recreational activities including football, table tennis, basketball, volleyball and indoor games such as ludo, cards and draught. This concurs with Mgbor and Enuku (2003) that acknowledged the engagement of prison inmates to recreational activities as crucial to keeping them eventful promotes the maintenance of healthy living and sustains long life.
Moreover, this study reveals that inmates participate in social intervention services in the North-west prisons, given their engagement in counselling session, social case and group work, social advocacy, and after-care services, by an assisting professional. This is consistent with Tanimu (2010) that assisting professionals in the prisons use social intervention measures while providing counselling, case work and after-care services as a rehabilitative strategy to address inmates’ crises situations. Ekpenyong and Dudafa (2016) also confirm that providing inmates with the basic tools of social intervention enable targeting behaviors that can be changed, and giving the chance for substitute to an anti-social lifestyle. Finally, this research reveals that the various prisons’ rehabilitation programmes have worthwhile impacts on inmates’ social functioning. This is because inmates attested that the experiences of rehabilitation activities had inclined their productive and creative tendencies, lessened inclination to commit crime, developed social consciousness of the negative impacts of crime and violence, and greater chances of changed attitudes/behaviours. This is supportive of Omorogiuwa (2014) that the prison rehabilitative services help to promote inmates’ path to reformation by improving on their potentials and subsequent change unto social functioning. In conclusion, Uche et al. (2015) in their study concurs that prison inmates recognized that rehabilitation programmes influenced their lives positively by instilling on them skills needed for later life. Based on the findings of this study, all rehabilitation programmes provided in the North-West prisons show the possibilities for effective reforming of inmates.
CONCLUSION
Given that the rehabilitation of offenders can be achieved through carefully designed and well- articulated reformative and rehabilitative programmes (Igbinovia, 2003), this current research attempts to offer an understanding of the rehabilitation programmes available in the Prisons in North-West prisons as experienced by the inmates, as well as their effectiveness. Given the findings of the study, it is ascertained that the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programmes is not limited to any particular programme; rather it is prevailing in all services, social intervention, skills acquisition, educational, recreational, although with variance. Moreover, majority of the inmates acknowledged that the rehabilitation services they received influenced them positively, given their changed attitudes and the skills learned for personal and social development. It may possibly be established that inmates are likely to function positively on release in the society as a result of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation services received in the prison, which enhances their well-being. Therefore, the results of this study provide momentous evidence in support of the need to improve prison rehabilitation programmes in order to enhance their successful restoration and reintegration into the society.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the aforementioned findings, recommendations are made that:
- The prisons are sufficiently funded by the Government to boost effective rehabilitation of inmates.
- Formal schools equipped with educational facilities and qualified teachers are established within the prisons premises.
- Additional skills acquisition programmes such as computer trainings, auto-mechanics, photography, barbing and hair-dressing are established to boost inmates’ employment opportunities on discharge from the prisons.
- The provision of more recreational activities in the prisons by the Government, since inmates preferred one recreational activity to the other.
- The employment of more helping professionals such as social workers, to improve the social intervention services rendered to inmates in the prisons.
REFERENCES
- Abba, M. (2016). Rehabilitation of Prison inmates through Vocational Skills Acquisition Programmes as perceived by prison officials in North – West States, Nigeria: Unpublished PhD Thesis: University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
- Abba, M., & Mbagwu, F. O. (2016).Vocational Skills Training Needs of Prison inmates for Economic Growth in Katsina State, Nigeria. Paper presented at the 2016 National Conference of the Nigeria National Council for Adult Education (NNCAE) held at Alvan Ikoko College of Education, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
- Abba, M., & Sanda, M. U. (2015).The Effects of Well- planned Correctional Education Programme on the Rehabilitation of Prison inmates, in Nigeria: Journal of Educational Foundations and Development, Benin City: University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria. 1(1), 13 – 23.
- Adewole, O. A. (2012). Effect of Population on Economic development in Nigeria: A qualitative assessment. International journal of physical and social science, 2(5), 1-14.
- Asokhia, M. O., & Agbonluae, O. O. (2013). Assessment of Rehabilitation Services in Nigeria Prisons in Edo State, Nigeria: American Journal of Contemporary Research, 3(1), 140-152.