The Nigerian correctional system often functions as a waiting room for a future that never arrives. Data from the Nigerian Correctional Service indicates that as of early 2024, approximately 70 percent of the total prison population consists of people awaiting trial. These individuals spend months, sometimes years, in custodial centers without a conviction. They exist in a state of legal and social limbo. This period of detention should serve as a bridge to a better life. Instead, it often becomes a descent into further criminality. 

The Stagnation of the Awaiting Trial Population

The situation is currently dire. Nigeria currently has about 80,000 justice-involved individuals in 240 custodial centers. More than 53,000 of these individuals have not been convicted of any crime. They are waiting in overcrowded cells in custodial centers such as Kirikiri in Lagos or Agodi in Ibadan. The population in these facilities is 400 percent more than they were designed to handle. In this situation, security is often the priority. Personal development and rehabilitation are not even in second place.

When a youth enters a correctional facility for a petty offense and is held for three years before trial, they do not come out unchanged. Without early intervention, they become worse-off as a result of their interaction with hardened justice-involved individuals. Rehabilitation needs to interrupt this process early by providing educational and training programs within the awaiting trial population.

The Nigerian justice system treats justice-involved individuals like plants left to die in the dark for years. Then they expect them to bloom the moment they step out of the prison gates into the bright light of society. However, they fail to realize that they are dealing with human psychology. Habits, mindsets and social skills atrophy in isolation. Rehabilitation is the water and sunlight. Rehabilitation needs to be provided from day one to make sure that the individual is strong enough to survive the transition back to society.

Mental Health and the Trauma of Detention

Being in detention is traumatic in and of itself. In Nigeria, this is further complicated by lack of nutrition, lack of access to medical care and lack of social support. Many justice-involved individuals have undiagnosed depression and anxiety. If these conditions are not treated during the long years of incarceration, they become permanent personality traits.

Beginning therapy or counseling sessions at the point of intake allows mental health professionals to treat the underlying reasons for criminal behavior. Many crimes result from poverty, drug addiction or impulsive reactions to stress. By dealing with these underlying reasons for crime immediately, the justice-involved individual is provided with a framework for self-reflection. Where this framework is absent, an individual locked in a cell for five years would likely harbor resentment against society and will also likely act on this resentment when they are released.

Skill Acquisition as a Tool for Dignity

The absence of economic opportunities also contributes to the petty crimes in Nigeria’s urban centers. A person who goes back to the streets after serving time with no money and no skills has no choice but to return to crime. While the Nigerian Correctional Service has attempted to implement skill acquisition programs, they are usually reserved for convicted offenders. The bulk of the Nigerian population, the justice-involved individuals awaiting trial, are not yet served.

The best way to facilitate the rehabilitation of all justice-involved individuals is through skill acquisition. Whether it is tailoring, shoemaking or computer programming, these skills give the justice-involved individual a sense of independence. A man who goes back to the streets with the carpentry skills has a new identity. He is no longer an offender, he is a carpenter. This is the basis of rehabilitation. This is the way for them to earn legal income, and it prevents them from going back to crime.

The Economic Argument for Early Reform

The current prison system is a costly undertaking for the Nigerian government. Providing food and lodging for tens of thousands of individuals is not cheap. Furthermore, when these individuals are released and then arrested once again, the cost is doubled.

Investing in rehabilitation programs on day one is a fiscally responsible decision. This is because rehabilitation is a cost-saving measure. By rehabilitating these individuals and then releasing them back into society, the government avoids the financial burden of maintaining them in prison. This also means that the government avoids the financial burden of feeding these individuals when they are arrested once again.

The University of Crime is a common phrase used to refer to the Nigerian prison system. This phrase refers to the process in which minor justice-involved individuals are radicalized by other, more experienced just-involved individuals. This is due to the fact that the current prison system does not have adequate classification and segregation of justice-involved. First-time offenders are often housed in the same cell as individuals serving life sentences for violent crimes.

Early rehabilitation includes screening and segregation. By identifying the needs of each justice-involved individual immediately, authorities can channel them towards positive influences. Mentor programs within the prison walls can help channel younger justice-involved individuals to those who have already demonstrated a commitment to rehabilitation. This breaks the chain of transmission of criminal skills. Instead of learning to pick a lock, for example, one learns to manage a budget or to handle conflict without violence.

The Role of the Community

Reintegration is a two-way street. The justice-involved individual needs to be prepared for the world, but the world also needs to be prepared for them. Nigerian society treats justice-involved individuals with extreme suspicion. This makes reintegration into society a problem.

Rehabilitation programs instituted early on should include a component for outreach to the community. By allowing justice-involved individuals to connect with their families during incarceration, social bonds are maintained. By facilitating communication between the prison and local businesses, a channel for re-employment is created. When the furniture maker knows that the justice-involved individual has had three years of training in carpentry, then he is more likely to offer the justice-involved individual a job. This bridge-building has to be done well in advance of the release date. This way, the justice-involved individual has a soft landing when he goes home.

Conclusion

The purpose of any justice system is the rehabilitation of the individual. By engaging in rehabilitation early on, the justice system can convert what could have been a period of stagnation in the justice-involved individual’s life into one of transformation.

Real change is not done in the last few weeks leading up to the release of the prisoner. Change is done through the gradual and consistent application of knowledge, guidance and skills development from the onset. By engaging in rehabilitation from the time of detention, the dignity of the individual and the public are maintained. A person entering the correctional facility should be provided with the tools to leave the facility as a productive citizen of the world. This way, the focus shifts from punishment to progress.