The term ‘prison’ is the colloquial name for ‘corrections.’
A lay person may observe no difference between the two terms – prison and
corrections - but a wide gap separates the two concepts. Now, let us take a
voyage into the clarification of both concepts for a better understanding of
the argument I want to put forward.
Basically, a prison can be
defined as a place where social misfits and those who are at conflict with the
law are kept for punishment or awaiting the determination of their cases in the
law court. The emphasis here is on the containment, control and punishment of
prisoners. This function of containment and control summarizes the first and
primary mandate of the Nigerian Prisons Service which is the safe custody of
the legally interned. Indeed, every prison system all over the world have it as
a priority to keep prison inmates from escaping from lawful detention in order
to protect the society from their nefarious acts. Examples of prisons are jails
and penitentiaries. A jail is known in Nigeria as medium security prison and it
is primarily used for prisoners being detained in Awaiting trial status and
misdemeanants prisoners serving sentences less than two years; and because the
profiles on the offenders are incomplete, they are focused on containment and
prisoner movement to and fro courts. Penitentiaries or what we should have
referred to as maximum security prisons in Nigeria are usually high security
prisons designed to hold dangerous offenders or those serving extremely long
sentences.
Corrections on the other hand not
only focus on containment and control of prisoners, but in addition provides
them with opportunities for change and successful re-entry into the society by
offering them education and vocational programmes, drug treatment and
rehabilitation, as well as life-skill training. Example of corrections is the
correctional centre, borstal institutions, and other forms of imprisonment
geared towards reformation, rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners so as
to make them better citizens devoid of their old criminal lifestyles.
Having clarified these concepts,
suffice it to say that in the last two decades, the Nigerian prison system has
evolved from containment and control of prisoners as a primary focus to
providing them with the enabling environment to be trained in different
endeavours that will assist them to lead responsible lives after imprisonment.
However, even with this tilt of the aims of imprisonment towards a globally
accepted standard that stresses more on reformation and rehabilitation instead
of punishment and containment only, the system still maintains the old
nomenclature which portrays it as punitive. Though there are concerted efforts
to pass a bill in the National Assembly to reform the present nomenclature to
capture the correctional function, the snail-speed at which it is pursued, is
unfair to the beleaguered system.
Over the past three years or thereabout,
there has been a boost in educational and vocational programmes available for
prison inmates in the various prisons nationwide. It is no longer news that
prison inmates sit for external examinations such as the Senior School
Certificate Examinations, University Matriculation Examination (UME) and Trade
Tests conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO), Joint Admission and
Matriculations Board (JAMB), National Board for Technical Education (NABTEB)
and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) respectively. It is not rocket
science that prison inmates enroll and study for undergraduate degree
programmes while in custody, with some of them proceeding to study for graduate
degrees while simultaneously serving their terms. This is not to mention the
adult and remedial educational programmes being run in our prisons nationwide
with thousands of prison inmates sitting for Adult Literacy and the Basic
Education Certificate Examinations.
In terms of vocational training,
the service has done tremendously well through its various workshops,
industries and farm centres available for the prison inmates to develop and
equip themselves in different trades and skills that will enhance their smooth
reintegration into their returning communities. Not only are they trained in these
vocational skills, but they are provided with start-ups immediately after they
are released from prison. This is the standard practice globally, thereby
launching the Nigerian prison into the league of modern correctional systems in
the world.
Hence, it is my submission that
the ‘Prisons’ in the nomenclature of the service be expunged for the more
conventional term ‘corrections.’ This will reflect the true mandate of the
service and what it is presently doing to improve the lives to the inmates.
This will also solve the problem of stigmatization against prison inmates and
make them accepted in the society. The term ‘prison’ is stigmatizing and tends
to paint those who have associations with it in bad light. But when it becomes
‘corrections,’ it will be trendier and less discriminatory. This is a
passionate call to our federal lawmakers to hasten the passage of the bill that
will see to the reforms in the nomenclature of the prison system in Nigeria.
Not only reforms in nomenclature, but also in funding and budgetary
allocations. There is also an urgent need to establish a Directorate of
Custodial Education in the service which will see to the activities of the
burgeoning educational activities in our prison system.
In conclusion, there is power in
nomenclature. And like the popular maxim states, a good name is better than
silver and gold. Also, one tends to act out his or her name. If this is so,
then it is time we change the nomenclature of our penal system from the
derogatory ‘Nigerian Prisons Service’ to ‘Nigerian Correctional Service.’
DSP Ugwuoke Kelvin Abuchi is a
psychologist, criminologist, penologist and victimologist. He can be reached
through his e-mail: ugwukev11@gmail.com
