ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSFORMATION FROM THE NIGERIA PRISONS SERVICE TO THE NIGERIAN CORRECTIONAL SERVICE

Abstract

The Nigerian government recently enacted the Correctional Service Act, 2019 (Act) which repealed the hitherto existing Prisons Act, 2004. The repealed law had become outdated and no longer capable of driving forward the criminal justice sector hence the need to repeal it. Nigerian Correctional facilities fall short of the approved standard for the rehabilitation and reformation of inmates. The Standard Minimum rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955 sets out rules that preserve the rights of prisoners. According to the Controller-General, the facility built in 1955 to shelter 800 inmates now holds about 3,113 inmates as at December 3, 2019. The newly signed Nigerian Correctional Service Act may foster the desired change in the system if it takes effect in practice. This article examined the new Nigeria Correctional Service Act 2019 and attempt to highlight areas of difference with the Nigerian Prisons Service Act 2004. The study amongst other things, recommended that constitutional huddles that exist in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) that stands to limit the actualization of the implementation of the NCSA 2019 should be reviewed also at the earliest attempt at amendment, parole, probation, community service, restorative Justice should be defined in the Act with clarity so that no one is left in doubt as to their meaning and purpose.