As Nigeria commemorates Women’s Month, ‘Funke Adeoye, Executive Director of Hope Behind Bars Africa, has issued a clarion call for urgent reforms in the nation’s correctional system, drawing from key insights at the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) Women in Corrections Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

Adeoye, the sole Nigerian delegate at the global forum, emphasized the pressing need to align Nigeria’s policies with the UN Bangkok Rules—a 15-year-old framework addressing gaps in women’s prison care, including healthcare, trauma support, and non-custodial alternatives for primary caregivers. Despite Nigeria’s adoption of the Rules in principle, implementation remains inconsistent, leaving incarcerated women vulnerable to systemic neglect.

During the conference, Adeoye toured Thailand’s Thonburi Correctional Institution for Women, where art therapy is central to rehabilitation, aiding behavioral management, addiction recovery, and post-release entrepreneurship. Similar innovations in Eswatini, Jamaica, and Australia underscored the global shift toward gender-sensitive practices. Yet in Nigeria, only three female-exclusive facilities exist nationwide, despite a legal mandate for one per state.

“The growing incarceration of women is a crisis rooted in poverty and gender-based vulnerabilities,” Adeoye noted, citing Penal Reform International data revealing a 17% global rise in female imprisonment since 2010. Nigeria’s female inmate population climbed 2.2% to 1,740 by February 2025, with many detained for minor, poverty-driven offenses.

 

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While Nigeria’s Correctional Service Act 2019 mandates gender-responsive facilities and non-custodial sentencing, Adeoye criticized the “lip service” to reform. Despite a N183.6 billion 2024 corrections budget, rehabilitation programs rely heavily on NGOs, with no dedicated funding for reintegration. Women, often isolated in mixed-gender facilities, face further barriers to vocational training and mental health support.

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