Different People, Different Prisons (An Excerpt From 'Prisons, Prisoners And Prison Officers in Nigeria,' An Unpublished Book by Ugwuoke Kelvin Abuchi

The word ‘prison’ means different things to different people. To the good citizen, it is a place where criminals who meet their waterloo end up. To the criminal, it may be an unfortunate repercussion for a misdemeanor committed, or an unavoidable indignity often experienced. To the socially incapacitated, it may be an abode. To some alienated persons, it may be the only place where they can find some semblance of companionship and camaraderie. To the prison officer, it is his or her place of work. To an applicant, it is a dream place to actualize a career. To the government, it is a parastatal that yanks so much of the annual budget to run, needs so many staff, and can hold a number of inmates. To a politician, it may be a pariah. Yet, to a clergyman, it may be a ground for evangelism and soul wining.

To a few it can actually mean hope and anticipation. To many it means despair and despondence, yet another failure and disappointment. To some, it may be a place where they are safe, at home, important, and able to wield influence or exercise power. To others, it is the end of the game; yet to others it is a dungeon for degradation and a place where they finally count for nothing.

Prison can be reality, something which has been experience, with special but familiar sights and sounds and smells. Or it can be a fantasy or a reverie, something one reads or hear about but never sees – terrifying, mysterious, and perhaps even exciting. To the psychologist, it may mean a career in studying the dynamics of behaviour. But to hundreds and thousands of people, it is an experience which slows up time, which crowds them together, sets them apart and changes the course of their lives.

Prison is a fundamental part of the Criminal Justice System as a whole. This system is really a framework set up to champion the administration of crime and punishment. Much of a prison involves loss of liberty. But there are gradations. These vary all the way from total loss of freedom in prison itself to probation which carries an obligation to put in an appearance at stated times.

Prison, then, is not a single concept. What you see depends on where you stand. The academic criminologist, the judge in his court, the child whose father has been sent to jail, the government – all have their different views.