A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES OF THE FEDERAL PRISONS IN NIGERIA; IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION

Abstract

From the simple societies to the contemporary period, societies have reacted in various ways towards those who violated the laws, customs, traditions and the general standard of behaviour of their group. The most common societal reaction to law-breaking has always been punishments in its various ramifications. However, the therapeutic nature of these punishment strategies, especially the kind found in correctional institutions in Nigeria, have generated a lot of debate among scholars and the general public as to their effects on the offenders and the society. The high rate of crime and recidivism in Nigeria society, seem likely to be strong attestations to the inadequacy and the infectiveness of the existing reformation and rehabilitation programmes of the Nigeria prison service, as a result of which the objective of transforming offenders into functional members of the society has not been achieved. This paper assessed the adequacy and effectiveness of the reformation and rehabilitation programmes of the Nigeria Prison Service viz avis global prison philosophy. Observations and literature review are replete with empirical data attesting to the fact that Nigerian prison is not adequately equipped for reformation and rehabilitation purposes. Findings revealed that Nigerian prisons are poorly equipped and maintained, facilities are out-dated and dilapidated, generally overcrowded with poor sanitary conditions, to mention but a few. It is therefore recommended that among the necessary reforms required within the Nigeria prison service, the services of correctional social workers, which is presently non-existent, must not be overlooked if Nigeria prison service is to be repositioned to key in into the global trend of harnessing available human resources to achieve over-all socio-economic development.