Acta Universitatis Danubius. Juridica, Vol 15, No 2 (2019)

Abstract

Prison is a place authorised by government for the confinement of persons convicted or accused of committing crimes. Over the years there have been strong calls for the restructure of the prisons system in Nigeria to contribute to economic growth and advance the purpose character remodeling rather than remain a vehicle for breeding hardened criminals and waste of scarce human resources. This paper examined the rationale for any restructuring agenda for the Nigerian prison system against the backdrop of the foundational purpose of the remedial institutions. The paper commenced with a discussion of the modus operandi of prisons system in Nigeria which reveals the hiccups to any restructuring agenda of the Nigerian prisons. Empirical review of creative facilities in some Nigerian prisons was done to verify and ascertain the shortfalls in the system, in order to proffer solutions. It was discovered that the major challenge to restructuring of Nigerian prisons flowed from the lacunae in prison laws, unfaithfulness of the Nigerian government to keep to her promise of prisons reforms over the years, public apathy and the general view that prisons represent places of punishment rather than reforms. In view of the above, recommendations were made for the purpose of drawing the attention of relevant stakeholders in Nigerian criminal justice delivery system to realise the imperativeness of the role of law in restructuring of prisons system in Nigeria for better economic outputs.