TheNigeriaLawyer Analysis 

Nigerian prisons had been heavily criticized for their overcrowded state and poor conditions. Experts said in such a state, the prisons in the country lacked the capacity to reform errant society members sent there for correction.

Rather than being reformed and turning a new leaf, many offenders sent to the prisons, according to experts, become hardened and turn to recidivists. Obsolete legislation, slow justice system and inadequate funding are prominent on the list of challenges identified by stakeholders to be hobbling the capacity of the Nigerian prisons to reform locked-up inmates.

It was against this background that the signing of the 11-year-old Nigerian Correctional Service Bill on Wednesday, 14th August, 2019 by the President was hailed by stakeholders in the Nigerian criminal justice system.

The bill was first presented and read in the Senate in January 2008, 11 years ago, by a former senator and current chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Victor Ndoma-Egba, in the sixth assembly.

The Act repeals the Prisons Act and changes the name from Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigerian Correctional Service, otherwise known as ‘the Correctional Service. Section 1(3) of the Act also stipulates that the Correctional Service will be headed by the Controller-General and a minimum of eight Deputy Controller-Generals.

The Act has two faculties: The Custodial Service and Non-custodial Service.

The Custodial Service, among other roles as provided in section 10 of the Act, will custody and take control of persons legally interned in safe, secure and humane conditions, conveying remand persons to and from courts in motorized formations; Identifying the existence and causes of anti-social behaviours of inmates; Conducting risk and needs assessment aimed at developing appropriate correctional treatment methods for reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration; and implementing reformation and rehabilitation programmes to enhance the reintegration of inmates back into the society, among others.

The Non-Custodial Service faculty is responsible for the administration of non-custodial measures, namely: “Community service, probation, parole, restorative justice measures and such other measures as a court of competent jurisdiction may order. Restorative Justice measure approved in the Act includes victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing, community mediation and other conciliatory measures as may be deemed necessary at pre-trial, trial, during imprisonment or even post- imprisonment stages.”

The Act also empowers the State Comptroller of Prisons to reject additional prisoners where the prison in question is already filled to capacity. By section 4 of the Act, in the event that the prison has exceeded its maximum capacity, the State Comptroller shall notify the Chief Judge of the State or the State Criminal Justice Committee. Upon receipt of the notification the Chief Judge or the State Criminal Justice Committee shall within a period not exceeding one month take necessary steps to rectify the overcrowding. Section 12(8) provides:

“Without prejudice to subsection 4, the State Comptroller of Prisons in consultation with the Prison Superintendent shall have the power to reject more intake of prisoners where it is apparent that the prison in question is filled to capacity,”

Another key provision of the law under custodial service is in Section 12 (2) (c) which provides that where a condemned prisoner on death row can have their sentence reduced to life imprisonment after 10 years without being executed. It states that:

“where an inmate sentenced to death has exhausted all legal procedures for appeal and a period of 10 years has elapsed without execution of the sentence, the Chief Judge may commute the sentence of death to life imprisonment”.

The law also made a strong case for the use of non-custodial sentencing for minor offenders instead of sending them to already overcrowded jails.

The law states the Correctional Service must initiate behavior modification in inmates through the provision of medical, psychological, spiritual and counselling services for all offenders including violent extremists.

The notable amongst the provisions introduced into the new Act that are geared towards improving the prison (custodial) system are summarized as follows:

  1. Section 10 which provides clear functions of the Correction Service with correction being the primary goal;
  2. Section 14 which provides reformation and rehabilitation of inmates through opportunities for education, vocational training as well as training in modern farming techniques and animal husbandry;
  3. Section 9(1) which provides for Standard which custodial centres must meet
  4. Section 13 which provides for Proper documentation of inmates such as his offence, personal history, biometrics, risk and needs assessment, psychological and mental health status etc and recommendations in respect of the sentencing or committal;
  5. Sections 34 and 35 which provide for separate facilities for female and juvenile offenders;
  6. Section 12(4) – (10) which provides for decongestion of custodial centres when filled beyond capacity and power of State Controller to refuse new inmates;
  7. Sections 7 and 15 which provides for prevention of inhumane treatment of inmates;
  8. Section 37 which provides for provision of non-custodial services to wit: probation, parole, community service etc.;
  9. Section 12(2)(c) which provides for conversion of death sentence to Life imprisonment where inmate has spent 10 years and above in custody without being executed;
  10. Section 23(4) which provides for the establishment of a health centre and deployment of at least a medical doctor in every custodial Centre.

A BRIEF REMARK ON THE LAW

The law has received commendation from stakeholders in the administration of justice system. Among them is the Executive Director, Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative, Mr Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, a staunch crusader for prison reforms, who according to the Online Punch Newspaper Report of August 22nd, 2019 described the new law as “a watershed in the history of treatment of offenders in Nigeria.” However, he raised concern about the practicability of Section 12(8), which empowered the State Controller of Correctional Service to reject additional inmates when the facility under his watch is full.

“The question then is: where will the inmates be taken to? Will such an inmate be released, particularly where he has been alleged to have committed heinous crimes?  This particular provision is very unrealistic unless more prisons are built, considering our population as a country, and more particularly in urban areas like Lagos, Kano, Rivers etc,” Adetola-Kazeem said.

He believes that except more prisons are built, that provision of the law would not work as prisons in the country have already overshot their capacity. Adetola-Kazeem further said the need had arisen to move the prison from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, so that both the Federal Government and the states can share the burden of funding the prison. He said until this was done and more prisons were built, the law might be merely academic.

“It is suggested that the prison be removed from the Exclusive Legislative List, so that states can cater for many of the inmates in prison who committed or have been alleged to commit state offences; that will lessen the burden of the Federal Government. The state should build their prison,” he said.

Also, the Senior Legal Officer, Human Rights Law Services, Mr Collins Okeke, argued that making the states share in the responsibility of funding the prison would help to check indiscriminate imprisonment of people for minor offences created by state laws. He said because of the way our constitution is crafted, prison is on the Exclusive Legislative List, under the control of the Federal Government, so, state governments really don’t care and magistrates just keep sending people to prison and the Federal Government continues to pay; and for the Federal Government, nobody is really asking questions about how much is going into servicing the prisons. He then advocated too, like, Adetola-Kazeem that prisons should be removed from the Exclusive Legislative List and put in the Concurrent Legislative List, so that the states can participate in the building and funding of prisons.”

The Executive Director, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, Mr Sylvester Uhaa, also hailed the final signing of the new law, which he said had been too long in coming. However, despite describing it as “a great legislation with wonderful innovations,” Uhaa is concerned about the culture of poor implementation of laws in Nigeria. He said:

“I am concerned that the Federal Government, as we have seen in the past, may not adequately fund its implementation, especially with respect to the non-custodial options, which will require significant amount of financial and human resources, political will and commitment.”

In addition, he said successful implementation of the Act depends very much on the level of inter-agency cooperation among the Police, Judiciary and the Correctional Services, as well as on judicial and police reforms. That If, for example, the high level of indiscriminate and unlawful arrest of innocent and poor people by law enforcement agencies continues, the courts and the correctional facilities will remain congested.

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