University of Nigeria...For the refam of Nigerian EDTiaone to be 4 ' cffsciive, there ia .urgent...
Transcript of University of Nigeria...For the refam of Nigerian EDTiaone to be 4 ' cffsciive, there ia .urgent...
University of Nigeria Research Publications
Aut
hor
OKORO, Jude Ikechi PG/MPA/93/15074
Title
Bureaucratic Response to the Reform of Nigerian
Prisons: A Study of Enugu State Command
Facu
lty
Social Sciences
Dep
artm
ent
Public Administration and
Local Government
Dat
e
October, 1997
Sign
atur
e
BUKEAUCHATIC RESPONSE TO TFE REFORM OF N I G h H I A N PRISONS, A STUDY OF LNUGU STATE COMMANR
OKORO, JUUE IIECHX
PC/WA/93/ 15074
SUB-IIEPAHTMILNT OF PUBLIC ADMJNISTUTTON AND LOCAL GOVLKNMENT, UNIVEMITY OF N X G b H U , NSUKKA
B W U C U T I C REGRONSE TO THE REFORM OF W1GE;R;LAN PRISONS, A STWY OP ENUGU STATE COP-
OKORO, JUDE. ZKECHI
PC/VIPA/~ 3/7974
I# PARTIAL WLFZLMUT O f THE RECiUIP&WT FOR THB AWARD OI T k E DEC;HE& OF MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATI OW
OKOKO, WAX IKECHI, r pout-graduate student
in the Sub-Cepartment of Public Administration and
Local Government with Ree;istration Murnber
PG/MPA/~ 3 / ? 5074. haa satisfactorily completed the
requirement for course and research work for the
degree of Master of Public AdmPinistration (WA),
The work embodied in t h i s project report -is
original and has not bc~en submitted i n pcart or f u l l
for any otber Univeralty.
To my beloved w i f e , Mrs. Joy U. Okoro,
end my children Chikaodinaka and Chidiebere,
A complete acknowledgement sf my indsbtrdness
fo r thia work is imoractic~ble. But I trust that
reference in th i s prodect together wLtb the
bibliography will give some i d e a of the depth
ef gratitude I owe to various writera and
rsaaeerth wsrkeroa
1 am deeply thankful to my project adviaes
Or, Bsb Onah of the Sub-Department o f Public .
Administration and Local Co~ernment.~
Again I wish to record my gratitude t o
my mother Mrs. B.I. Okom and m y sister Julie
Mre, F. U. A g u who is elao my sister in-law
f o r the wonderful 30b she d id hn typbng neatly
and accurately t'je manuscript. -
In Nigeria, fiere aeea t o be no set-out philosophy
for bpr iromsnt . A t beat, w b O one could gleam
is a philoeophv whicb e n p b ~ l z e @punishment" gra*ker
than planned mrehabilitatton~ of oonvicted prisonere.
On the baala of researcher Investtgatiarm on
the Refom of Prirctns, one also dfaeawered that the
prisons in Enugu State are fawe autm@ded+ I~SBGW~,
highly congested and seriaualy lacking in v i t a l
offender troajment fad.litics. Shere I s umnt
need for a total re-apprafbel af the entire
priaon system.
Hodern effendor treatment faoil&tAes w i a
emphaala on couprnhsn~ivt educatkonal and
vocirtional training ore n~edsd.. Federal
yovcrtiaent should introduce an effective
after-care acheme which wsuld s e w r Itorards,
the rehabilitation of convict8 immedfiatelly
before land after 'release from primon.
For the refam of Nigerian EDTiaone t o be 4
' cffsciive, there ia .urgent .need t o ea.tablirh
Priaons Serviac Cammiaston whicb directly under
the PreaFdency like the Police Service C @ ~ i ~ 8 f @ n ;
iv,
vii.
CHAY'I'k4H ONE: - - - - 1.1 I n t r o d u c t i o n * @ a
1.2 Statement of Problem 1.3 Purpose of Study 1.4 S i g n i f i c a n c e of Study " U e f i n i t i o n of Concepts 1 0 ,
1 . b ' l 'neoret ical brau~cwo.-k 1.7 L i t e r a t u r e Kcview 1.8 nypotnes i s ... 1 e g fictk~odoJ.o&~J 0..
11 U 'I' c 5
2,1 'Lhe Prc-Colonia l Lra 2 * 2 'I'he Co'loriial hrca. 2.3 I'he P o s t Independence U a 2.4 The E'ormation o f hnugu State
Comalimci * . a
2.5 'l'hc Prison Kefornr
' K 1 ; M lt(h;AllCKACY AND BURLAIJCHATIC BLHAVIOIIK TN THE NIGERIA
3.1 The S t r u c t u r e o f Bi~reaucr'acy j.L irie aureaucm LAC r e ~ ~ u r r a l ~ . t y 2.5 A n e ~bigerian r r i s o n s ourcnucrats 3.4 Uperatuns of the ~ A ~ k e r i a n rrzsons
.2CL'VLCt? O *'.
i rwr icn Eddn; PROFESSICI\ICILISP~ TN TiIE N l ( z h K 1 i l N PRISONS SERVICE
bal The Need f o r Prison Reform 4.2 Chain of Comand 4.3 Staff Training 4.4 Hecr~lit:r:er.t Policy
I ' l o l ' k i s CtlAP'loK F1VE : Lui?'u ANALY SLS
5.1 Data P r e s e n t a t i o n and Interpretation
5.2 h f e rences 5.3 Uiscussion of Findings 5.4 Lmplicat ion of Find ings N O T L S
Figure i: Tiir P a t t e r n Organizational Change 28.
Table L: Pr i sons and O f f i c z r s (08-15) U i s t r i b u t i o n i n Lnugu S t a t e Command @ *
Table LI: Sample of P r i s o n s and Percentage of S t a f f t o . b e s t u d i e d
Table 111: Coding of Responsesaad t h e I n t e r p r e t a t i o n on t h e L i k e r t Sca l e
table IV: U i s t r i b u t i o n and Return of Ques t ionna i r e s
Table V: Age of: Respondents
'l 'able Vl: Rank of Keepondents
Table VII; Grade Level o f t h e Respondents
Table VllI: Sex of kespondents -
Table U: Kel igion Uelive of Respondents
'Lable X: LQucat ional background o f htsporldents
' table XI: Years s p e n t in Serv ice by t h e hespondrnts 08. l e n g h t of Se rv i ce 93
Table XII: i o c a t i o n o f kespondents - 94
'Lable XI11: How Kespondents were r e 9 r u i t e d 95
'l'able XIV: Respondents' Response on f u l f i l l i n g Nature of t h e i r c h r e e r 96
Table XV: Respondents r e a c t i o n on t h e i r b c h i l d r e n coming knto the
Serv ice 97
Table XVI: Respondents r e a c t i o n t o what the p u b l i c think about them 98 .
Table XVII: kespondents response on the p r i s o n s s e r v i c e b i g g e s t problem 99
Table XVI11: Respondents response on p r i s o n s reform 100
Table X U : Respondents r e a c t i o n on p o s i t i v e impact of t h e r e fo ru on p r i s o n e r s 160
Table XX: I n t e r p r e t a t i o n of Range of Aggregate ( ~ e a n ) X Scores and s t anda rd d e v i a t i o n 102
I'ablesXXI: Response on P o l i t i c i z a t i o n - of P r i sons Se rv i ce as computed f r o s Aggregate &an Score 163
Table X X I l : interpretation of X Score 704
Table X X I I I : Response on job s e c u r i t y w i t h t h e New Reform 705
Table XXIV: Aggregate s c o r e s on Items 20-24 105.
The term bureaucracy has different mernlngs for
d i f f e r e n t people* Usually the term has negative
cortnotatione: but it was originally used t o deroribe
an attempt a t increasina the efficiency, faQrnem
and performance of work in organizations, The
concepts mrooiated w i t h bureaucracy have baen
adopted to the extent that all organfoati.anr art
now somewhat bureaucratic, they Imve roleso policies,
chaias of command and so fortkr
Oxford Loarners Dictionary defined abureacracy
as government by paid ofiicials not elected by the
people, officials who keep their posit ions whatever
political party is i n power.* The idaal typeEof
formal organkzatisn is bureaucracy and i n many
respects, the cls6riael analysis of bareaucracy
i r tbat by MaxWebar (7948).
AQ Weber indiater that bureaueraey invoErea
a clear-cut d i v i r i o a o f intergrated act lv l t ief i
whl.cb are regarded as dut ies inherent i n the o%ficeD
)Irur Weber crit ic ized the practice (D~P favoriti~m
and the uwganizatioml equivalent sf the divine
vight c f ki~1g2i which .prevailed Qurirrg; h i s dayb
Waber outlined the following aspects of the effective
bureaucratic organization:
Task are divided into speciaPized Jobs.
Extansive oeta of rules are developed fa
assure consistent treahent of employees
and coordination of tasks .
Each per&oa i s respc~nsible 'to ar superviaor
which creates a chain of coamamd,
( d ) ' Formal relationshipe are fogtered $0 that
favoritism is reduced and efficienay incresaaai.
(e) Advancement 1s baaed upon coMpstance not on
par~onol. relationahbpso
From the himtori~rrl point o f view, rrocri+tier
have had sme form of punishment and. corre~t ioar~ l
me$hodra m for their erring members. 'Ptzese metbods
of punieWent, ranged From branding, flogging
confiecatioh of wives, to mention Just a few,
Behiud the various form6 of punishment l ie8 the
social conviction that punitive ae~sures serves t o
deter offenders and perform the role of retributive
justicea hlthough. imprisoment is said to have
originated during the 16th century.
Today, three epochs of its growth are identifiede
There was the emergence of the Armtata4m Peni tent ia~y
during the middle ages when houses of! carroctior18
were dcvelopsd i n Europe for confinement of rsocial
mlafit.. In those beuses executiion sf puni,sWent
was seen as repentance or genitanco by trrinin~
through work or ordered l i fe ,
Then came Wcr reform period towordo *he and
of the 18th century when the Quaker6 attempted t o
establieh a oyptem of tota l rolitary confinanent
f n order t o avoid contamination of new intakes
by older sriminala. It was assumed %hat if
grFssnera wnro kept in 8olitu-y confinement,
ra~eatance and re-socialization would be achieved
quicker.
emphasFo shifted t o improvement o f the prisoner@'
1st. The two world wars and the economic recession
which followed had worsened the condition^ of prisoners* b
T b present day worldwide hummising att itude towardn
iaprlaonu~lent started a t th is period. The United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for crime prevention
and treatment o f offenders adopted in 1955 also
influenced Many countries towarde the naw direction,
Although the current reform ha@ not been fu l ly
realised i n many countries o f the world especially
i n third world countries including Nigeria.
Coatemporary Nigerian Prisons system 1s w
colonial creation, The'fLr6t modern and English-
type prison in the country was establfshe~ in 1872
and located on the Broad Street i n Lagoa. The
devslopment of Priaoba i n Nigeria followed simllac
path that had been associated with those of England
and the United States sf America.- That is prison
began not as ult inste institution for pumishmen%
and corroc%ion. They were i n i t i a l l y designed
for the criminal Justice process - individual8 who were awaiting trials or the execution o f their
punishment such as whipping, banishment and death.
(Rotban 1971).
'Imprisonment was not considered as punishruent
unt i l 19th century. Peopla were, unt i l then sent
t o prison t o await punishment and not as punisbent.
Some pre-colonial Nigeria socie t ies refered t o as ,
EjPiratas and kingdoms were known t o have maintained
some f o r a of custodial f a c i l i t i e s ' with ro les s i m i l a r
t o the proceeding description of the funotions of
prisons LR 18th century Europe,
The s p i r i t of the present prison8 system in
Nigeria is based on a very old and outmoded prison
Ordinance of 1916 which emoted imprisonmant with
hard labour a8 the bas i s o f ,treatment of offenders
La Nigeria. The Oxford Dictionary definea priaon
afl the ncondFtion of bein8 kept i n captivity or
confinement and f o r c i b l e deprivation of personal
l ibertyon Section 13 sf the 1972 Act also defines
a prisoner as "any person lawfully committed to
cust~dy.~ According to t h i s Act , a prison shall
(a) The ground and building within the prison
(b) Any lock-up (for the terpporary de<e&ion o r
c u s t ~ d y of a prisoner vho i a efther newly-
form part of the prison, A prison,, therefore,
Fs P p h y ~ i c s l structure in which wrong doer8 are
kept or where prisonera are looked up against Chsir
willr A prison oan also be referred t o any place
for tine confinameqt or detention of off-enders or
suspects whether c ~ n v i c t e d or unconviated*
Imprisonment can be defined ae that process
whereby an individual is confined vithin an
institution knovn as prison, where his ~ ~ v e m e n b
becoae restructed and he beconos cut-off froin
family, relat ives and friends for part of the time,
This ieolat ion can be painful and fruetratbg as
he is deprived of e~otional relatLonshLpa ao well
as freedom of expression. He therefore, loses hie
independence in decision-making in nost things
affecting him.
All decisieas are
invariably taken for him atxi imposed on him, thus
oftea forcing him t o lose 411 senae for personal 6
i n i t i a t i v e
The colonial prison syatea, was a far better
arrangement to whet we have now, in terms of rec~iving
and reformation o f persona so committed i n t ~ it, by
legal procesa a
The original idea of classification of convicts
according t o classes of offences, had diad a natural
death,, *&at ons would rather see our prLsoa rsystem
Ln Nigeria look l ike , is nothing but a coastitutionqlly
opprovad camp., where people or suspected dubious
ehructersare instantly kept to be trained as real
criiae r~anipulators .~ I t i8 sad that this primary
knowleBge had kept froin the uneunspeuting generd
public sinue Nigeria aasumed her independenoe @tatus*
There Is no doubt that most detaioees and prisoners
in Nigerio live under- congested, inhuman and.deplorable,
conditionsc The most unfortunate aspect of it a l l i s
that rather than reform prisoners to ewble thwn
become aore useful citizens t o theoselves, their
respective f a m i l i a a and the Wigerian aooilsty a t
Largu. &xis t ing measureo and condit io~s In most
~ Nigerian prisons sake prisoner8 more hardened,,
?,2 STATEMFAT OF PHOBLBH
In Nigeria, there seems t o be no s e t out
philosophy for iaprisonment. A t best, what one could
glean is a philosophy which has tended to emphasize
apunishrPent*rather than planned nrehobilitation* o f
convicted offenders, The present prison structures in - Nigeria wore b u i l t by our colonial masters as places
for keeping people who ware opposed to their administration.
However, with. the sophistication of society
leading to Lnereaoe in crime wave, the existing
prisons could no longer cope with the new trend
reaultlng Ln ovarcrowding of prisons. This problea
has been further coolpounded by the attitude of varioue
bli~arian loaderahip which continued with the colonia-
lists i d e s of imprisotua~lnt~
In contemporary Nigeria, hou~var, eapksis
has ohi f ted from the prison8 bein8 plaees for
confirlunsnt of political opponents to that sf
treataent and correction o f offenders in consonance
with the United Nations Standard Minimum Ruleo (1955)
for the treatieent of of fenders,, The present naturu
of the Nigerian Prioons Swvice makes the implementatisu
of effective
impossible. '
treatment and correction almost
Thu., modern prison i n s t i t u t i o k ~
m u t be designed as well as well trained personnel I
i n order to bring about positive behaviour charge. I
One of the greatest probleas o f the Nigerian
Prisom Service La that of non bplsaentottoa o f
government p~ll lc ieta as it affects the service. I t
is noted that prison officera are not the impla~oantation
machinery, the bapsrsonal bureaucrats and the
regimented lfnk-in-the chain which they have bean
perceivsd and idoolised to be by some acholara of
burooucrauy. A l t h o w & k , idea l ly the clasuical
bureaucratic personality as envisaged by Mou Wsber
a ~ d expounded on by Robert Merton, may aomatimea
show signs of being stable and uay even be predictable,
The prison officxwa are not well equipped t o solve
problems end k n d l ~ conflicts i n prisons.
The increase in prison population is a reflection
of the increase o f the populatkon of the larger
society as well. as illadecpata number of judges and
magiatrates which inhibit early dispensation o f
justice and thuo increasing the number of awaiting b
t r i a l imatos whioh form two-thirds of prison
population,
The prevailing low concept of tb Nigerian.
Prisons Service personnel was further coupounded when
pol i t i ca l detaineer were sent Go prisonaa. Thia is
beccuse, it become d i f P i c u l t for officero and men o f
the Nigeria Prisom remica to actually perform their
Functions effectivoly in dealing with such detainees
who yesterday, were their supposed political leadere+
Lack of unlforrps and accoutrascdata which ware
usuial'ly shabby, when available has alwayu created low
morals in the Nigerian Prisons Servics*
The Nigerian Prisons Service as a governmental
organization has a l o t of bureaucratic influence
that ef fects its operation. The infleuce of the
o f f i c i a l s o f Ministry o f Internal Affairs in
intitrvening i n most o f t'ne suppliea to the prisons
the Internal Affaira Ministry that awards food
contract to contractors, They also award contract
for drugs and prisoners uniform. ThLa situation puts
the Bontroller General of Prisons in a helpless
position as regard basic ueeds of the pr&sonsros
q. 3 PUHPOS& OF STUDY
Ftesponse to organioational changes or reforus
by members of the organization has been the aubJact of
several studies resulting in eopioua works and writing,
Studies on bureaucracy and the bweaucratLc personality
have equally been both intensive differentiated and
authorit8tlve. But studies on the aftermaths of
structural reforms and bureaucratic response to the
reforms of Nigeria Prisons Service have n o t be'en ,
as profuse as other areas. This study is, therefore,
aimcd at filling the necessary gaps in the mentioned
armR,
k130, is it woPthwhile to attribute blindly,
the course of the conflicts between the career prison
personnels and the executives of Fodaral Ministry o f
~ n t e r n a l Affairs to the reform only? Could these
conflicts be as a result of fears for imecurity,
loss of esteem, power and doubt by the bureaucrats?
In other words, have these upheals and reactions got
some relationship with Writon's *protection of self-
intersst" postulations? Again, the bureaucra*, .
according to existing literature is noted for his
rigidFtyl, in f l ex ib i l i t y and over adherence t b regimen, Has t h i s got anything t o do with the role conf l i c t s ?
This study w i l l attemgt to anewer these questions and
more.
Furthermore, it i s also the intention o f this
study to invsstigatca tne rea l and empirical bases, and
the intensity of the bureaucratic reaction to the
reform. Yo s h a l l re la te these findings to exi;ting
theoraticsl profiles of the bureaueratic personality.
Finally, th i s study w i l l e l i c i t the general
attitudes of the NLgerian Prisons Service bureaucrates
towards the reform confirm or otherwise our hypothetical
reasons for this.
1.4 smrxr;.~cx~+c~. OF ~ ~ U D Y
The bel ie f that i.mpri.sonment detaro people from
cormuitting further offences has long been advanced as
one of -tile m ~ t ~ 3 g e r ~ t reasons for maintaining prisons
and reinand homes, Other arguments for grfsonrallation
centre on deterrence and retribution as reasons vhy
prisons ahould be uaintained. This case La being.,
o f f a r e d without examination of.the effcetr on individuals
and countries o f th i s principleo b
Proposals for alternatives to prison seldom
c~nfront many problems that tha introduction of
alterr~ativcs in the criminal justice entails. Abundant
theorids are built on reform and rehabilitation
models, and experiaentatlon has been widely made with
open insti tu t i-on, Fnmatas self-government and with
therapeutic comunitiaa. This study will reveal that
deterrence and rshabilitation hprve n o t been the
unque6tioned aims of pcanal action, instead, there
has beeu o move back to the classic restraint model.
To say that ?resent day prisons are rehabilitative
is doubtless more an ideological assertion than a
description of actual practice. In p&ns, innatas
are not institutionalized because they ore considered
to be in need of treatment or because they present
good material for an agency of change but because
the court sentenced them.to a prison term. The -
history of reformatory experiments is the glaomy,
chronicle of good intentions that failed, &ven
acc1aulated reform is no proof that something
essential has happened, punishment per se is still
o batter of returning evil ' for evil which nowadays
is guide~t and J u s t i f i e d by considerations of gain
and ~ Q S S , Studies on Nigeria Prisons resorm ahould
be a matter* 9f concern t o a l l and enmuraged for
the i r worth,
1.5 D W I N I T ~ O N OF CONCfilPTS
Communication of ideas may n o t be possible in
th i s couple% and nuclear era f u l l of technical jargons
unles3 d r c c i s a meanings are given to the concepts
employed i n the course of t h i s work, The need for
buch precision in d e f i n i t i o n is f e l t when a work is
r e d UIiG understpod with minilua? arnhimlty and the
f o l l owin& the areuments enhanced. In t h i s work, the
f o l l o w i r ~ g key ccncyeLs are given contextual de f in i t i on
to delineate their operational use.
BWAUCRACY: The study m d de f in i t i on of the concept - u - - -
of turaaucrscy h s been a sub;lect that i s variously
the cmcerrl of practicsll~ a l l theoriots of modern
organiz~t iun . As a re su l t it has yielded three '
dif ferent a~urobches t o the definit ion, There i~
the str.uctura1-functional appr~ach which emphasises
the charncterlst ics o f s bureeucratic inst i tut ion.
Thio approach is related to Wcberian id f ia l type
bureaucrecv. The otter approach is behavioural,
It approaches t h e def ini t ion o f I~~weaucrcrcy frou
the behaviourel teiidencies o f the main actor o f
bureaucracy. The th ird approach concentrate- on the
dvsfunction~ of hreaucrficy.
For the purposes o f t h i s studv, we shall approach
the def initi.on of bureaucracy from the structural-
functiorlul perspective, This is hecause this approach
gives A f a i r l y fiood idea of how to identify a
hureoucrstic orvanizat ion without recourse t o underneath
A 1arm orvanization that employs division o f labour: hierarchical structure, formal rule9 andm regulat ions i mperoonal rational relet i o n s h i p tirld competence as ba~is f o r employment.
In his ::own d e f i n i t i o n , George Koueoulos (1975)
states that bureaucracy i a thata
Structure which involve^ coap&ex procaaureta and a f f r c a aany individuals, requires a forra o f or&anisation based on division of labour ar~d respoasibLlitiaso
Per'nape the def in i t ion would n o t be couplcte
without a mention from the acclaimed fowcier and
dist i l ier of tbe concept - Max Veber. Yeber'o I
definitioo/explanutioo was i n form of a treatiee I
on the cnaracteristioo or principles of tne ideal I
type of bureaucracy. Taese prl~ciples are summr'irad '
a5 fo l lows:
(i) The prificiple of'lew~ and regulaticmr
governing every a c t i v i t y i n zLe b.agcaucrarlc
of uaded superror-subordinate authorioy.
A E..rlnciplta of repuration of tbe msfficea .
( i v j Pr inc ip l e o f ~pecializazion and o k i l l
(v) Errnciple o l aeliui+ation of off$ce
based on d i v h i o n of labour.
( v i ) Pr-iac~@e of umageueot of o f f i c e - b a e d
on admir~iotrative rules, rechnlcal expertirse
C T U s concept is most often u e d as an
i n v i d i o u epithex for t i ie self-seeking o f f i c i d a
idowever, an acaaeffiic aefinizion (which t h i s study
shares w~t'n) is the one given by Robert Ner$on, who
d&ir~@d it ast
.. an o f f i c i ~ l appointed to one or mo%her leve l on t k e admin.islr&tive nf srsrcy, witbout the presuaption that na BUE be uotiv@tod to u i P l i s e h i s power, i f he i s t o q~eiify for t h e aesi&nationa
Tnerefore, the bureaucrat i n the Nigeria PrLsorm
S o a d ( i .P ,B , ) , Abuda, who occupy. posts from Assfatant
- Prisons. mere are the crop o f officers who .are
often attached witn the lip4macking t i t l a of nssnior
i r d e a t ~ f i e s it as tke adjective from bweaucr&cy
and bureaucrat, Is refers or r e l a t e s t o bureaucrcy
or tne bureaucrato
For the purpose of znis otuay, 'buraaucraticm i o
l a & to r e f e r to the qualities, chwracterist$cs and
properties of the bureaucrat,,
WEQ&-r Lu t r a u study, YresgorrrieY wilL be w e d to
ref'er to the actions, reactions, sttitudrea, oyiniaru
and behwiour, whother overt or covert, o f f i c i a l or
unofficial, dieplayed by the bureaucrat in relation
to the pressures brouat about by the struciurol
changes and ruforu i~ the Nigeria Prisons Servfce.
PRISON* The Encyclopaedia of'SOc$al Sciencere defltoea -*
prieon as 'a place whore parronr whose l iberty b s
bean curtailed by low arc confbed t o aearurc the
succeraful aduiaiatration of Jurtice or the application
~f penal trcatnteatan Prima is traditiwaaUy
defined, as s place ia which persona ora kept Arm
P6 punishnmnt after conviction.,
For the purpoae of the research. grisen can be
defined as a pen61 i n s t i t u t i o a vbcro peapl* w b have
been f o W guilty of a crime by the csurt are confiePd
t o serve the sentence and people whs us awaiting
trlal are kept till their coeea are detrrmLmed by
xns iirgerian Primno Service is an indiupeneable
soc ia l ancl security oervicot. The service i n v ~ l v e s
socral rcaponbib~l i ty , security, oryaniaot&sa, troosaent
and r e h a b i l ~ t a t i o n 01 prisoners i n t h e prisons, '&be
ruoderrs prision ays-cua in AvAyeria came to be as a r e s u l t
01 colonial rule. Sffort have been ruade by vcr iow
Nreerian goverraents t o reform and update the p r i s m
ayotem,,
H~c~'DK&A: l ' l ' n ~ s , is one of the main ob~ectivte oS priS0n
systeu In bi~gurio, though it has not receive statutory
recogni~ron- in the Uigeria Yrlson oly~tea,, Yiybria 08
cauucatlouoLo U O ~ R L , s p ~ r i t u l i ~ sad otl~er forces aud
iorare o f aersiatanco which are appropriate andlat)aiLable
and should ~ e c k Lo apply them a c ~ o r d i ~ g b tbe i n d i v i d u l
trektnrent needo of the prisonerso
The punitive aspect of i~prisoment receives little
attention nowadays and indeed CB(irn~no1ogist~ orre of
the view mat d e p r i v a t i ~ n of Liberty and the atteaelrant
restrlctione imposed on a prisoner conotitute ~ufficlcnt
p u n ~ s h a n t . hphasiti ia~ 'therefore, on way6 and &ma
of transforsuing the priamerr ' into good M d law
vbidiny citizeao.
To this end, the prison system in Migetria traata
priaoner~ uncler the following aopectot
(a ) Uork and vocPtioaal training,
( b ) haucotion - the wellare officers sup@rVi$e
-me eaucationel clo.ssea for prWLsouer&.
~ C J Religiou - it 5cs paciiying ef fect on the
prisoners, The prisons service provides for
the aervicse of a chap1ai.n of each denomination
for prisoners,
( d ) Welfare scheme,
( e ) Discipljne.
( f ) Staff attitude - this is another a ~ p e c t of
reformation of prisoners,
Though the b4i~erien Prtsonrs Standing Oraers forbid
uadtrdr familiarity between staff and prisonetrs, it
is difficult to delimit the txtsnt of relationship
necessary on the part of relationship necessary on
the part of the staff in training prisomt?r8*
Rsforirration of prisoners must be based on
organised program and must take an importrnt place
in the prison system,
R M A B J L 1 1 ~ I O N ; kJor work of r'eform~tiorz of prPloonerr - is done in the prison. The modern system after ensiuring
the training of the prisoner, &e by effective welfare,
endeavour to lessen the pains of transition of a prisoner
from p~*isons to the community. A job is t o be found
for the prisoner and assistance by finance and squipmenb
hgs to be provided for the initial take-off of the
discharged prisone~j, This can only succeed when this
humanitakian work is done in partnership with outaide
bodies or agencies,
The principle concern o f this study i s organisational
change and reform in a system and how this process affect8
aome wembera of the system and sub-~ystems, As Katz
and ~ah(1966) explain, any theoretical basis for change b
i n a system and its repercussions must take into
cons idera t ion t h e workings of a system,
According t o them:
A theory of change then bu i lds on such information t o desc r ibe t h e ways i n which system changes occur, What a l t e r e d inputs o r environmental circumstances, f o r example, w i l l have whet e f f e c t s oki system p r o p e r t i s e arid output,
Two models guide this study, a l l i n t e r - r e l a t e d
and i n e x t r i c a b l y interwined as sub-theories of the all
embracing system approach. The models a:'@ t h e
organiacrtional change theory as i l l u s t r a t e d by K a t ~
and Kahn (1966). L. Deci (7977), Rogers and Shoemaker
(1971)~ and t he Merton Model (1957) on hunran Lehaviour
t he two ~aodels , it would be necessary t o examine the
providions of the outer framework of the sytsms approach.
I n t h e i r m o n u e n t a l work, a e S o ~ P s v c h o l ~
of D r ~ n i za t lons , Katz and ah defined an organiza t ion
asna s o c i a l device f o r e f f i c i e n c y accoraplishing
through group means some s t a t e d purposeon
According t o them, s o c i a l urganisations are
f l agran t ly open systems i n t h a t the input of energies
and conversion of output into fu r ther energy input ,
cons i s t of t ransact ions between the organization and
its enuirorunento I t also conoista of patterned
a c t i v i t i e s o f a nunher of individualso These
patterned activities are complementary o r i n t e r -
dependent with respect t o some common output o r outcome.
The open system theory is concerned with problems of
ralftt ionuhips, of structure and interdependence r a the r
than with the constant attributes of objects,,
Common charactecistis of. osen systems:
(1) Energy Input: upan system fmport energy
from the external environment. For a socSal
systaa to survive, i t dust draw energy
supplies fron other i n s t i t u t i o n s i n form
of s t iuulLt ions , ideaso materials e t c o
Mo s o c i a l organisation o r s t ruc tu re is
self su f f i c i en t .
(ti) Energy Transform: - Open sys tern transform
energy available. The organization creates
new products fron ideas, t r a i n s people and
provides services*
E n e r ~ output: Open systems export products
i n t o the environment. The con t inu i ty of t h i s
function depends on t h e rec lsp t iv i ty of the
environment,
Cyclical: Events in an open system coae
i n circlia, The p a t t e r n o f a c t i v i t i e s - export-
a t i o n o f energy i n t o the environment furniehes
t h e sources of intake of energy f o r t h e
repeat ac t ion , This g ives social s t r u c t u r e
i ts ciynmlsra r a t h e r than being a s ta t ic
C O I ~ C B P ~ ~
Negative Entropy1 To survive, open syrstarrt
must reverse t h e e n t r o p i c process. This
mews t h a t social organ i sa t ion will a?e
t o improve, t h e i r s u r v i v a l posikion by
importing more energy fr~m its environraent
than it expands,
Information Anput, Feedback and Coding:-
Some i npu t s serve t o inform t h e sy tau about
. t he environment and i ts own poaitioa.
This helps t h e sytem t o c o r r e c t i t s e l f and
enables it t o be r e l e c t i v e about inputs,
(vii) Homeoatas 1 s : This means that social systems
tend to ruainiain a state o f aquLlibriw, yet
there is growth and adaptation la tha e n v i r o ~ e n t ~
They react t o change or they anticipate change
and through growtb assimilate new energetic ,
inputs to the nature of their structure.
a ( v i i i ) Differentiation: Open systems tend to mova
i n the direction of differentiation and
(ix) htmgrationsod Co-ordFnatiea: ha dliferpnfietion
proceeds, it is countered by the process that
brings the oysteu together for unified f~nctioning.
This was what Von Bertalanfty deruribed
.progresivo mechanization,* Thia is achieved
in organizations through dcvicss l ike priority
oyachronizatLon of functions and scheduling.
(x) Equif inality: Open r~ys term ore charucterised
by e q u i f i w l i t y , tht i s u system reaching
the final stage from di f fer ing i n i t i a l
conditiom and a variety of paths W e n ,
This model proceeds from the general system
frwuework of analysis already discuoed,, As wted
in the outlined characteristics of open syste~us, systeaa
are dynamic, they change if they m u a t survive. Some
inputs into the systen l i k e certain information and
feedback ensure that it corrects itself and adopts
to the dernanda of the envirommt.
Rogers and Shoemaker8 have developed a pattern of
organizational change i n bureaucratic inst i tut ions .
They see organizational change as broadly a two-putteraad
(1) Tho decis~on/policy unitnand
(ii) The adoptLon unit.
The decisbn/pol icy unit is ths grwp or
authority that formlatcs the po l i cy for ckqimge* This
happens through stages, l~sually three. This is usually
done in bureaucratic Lnstitutioru by oilppply a decree
or legislation or directive on the -ovation or reforms,
The adoption unit is t'ne group that adopts and. implemr~ernts
the p a l i ~ y e b
At the decision phase or unit, u w l e d u about
the need for change occurs. The need for the reform
m y coue through varied sources including arrtlec~l
presawes and political demands, The second stage is
m, PeroauasLon is when the source o f chrig@
a d the! c,tun&e i tse l f are evaluat~d for .viafbilityon
Visibility is the ability to perceive the comp~rative
advantage o f the propsrsd reforms irr changer
The thLrd stage under the! decision phase is
decision i t s e l f . That is the p o l i c y d i n g body aftar
mknowingm the Lmovatlan and fa then aperruadad* t o
make BL *deciuionm or choice. bgers and Sbraakar
s i g n i g i c m t l y noted that the a b i l i t y of t h e decision-
making authority to invoke the i~apltzmoptatlton unit in
innovation choim positively enhances its chaacas of
acceptance o
At the adoption phase, two stages existo f irs t
i s the m u n i c - a t o p when the decision-making
unit h$is chosen the innovation ft wishes to adopte
The nesisage is passed down the line through the superior-
surbodimtts authority pattarn of hiararchy ia bureau-
cratic organinstloris,, b
The act ion stage refero,to the actual implarpentsfion
of the r e f o r m . This is the c r i t i c a l stage. Xt is the
o tags, ~ c c o r d h g to Roger8 ;.: ; and @heiaaker, when
mbehaviowlal consequences of i ~ o v a t i o n become
increasingly visible whether positive or negativeom
1. W W L W E about the need for change
J. 2e P W U A T L O N to adopt the
chagge af'ter dusl evalutrtisn
A' 3. DECISIOH concerniag
acceptance or rejection o f -tho proposed change
\L/ 5. ACTION or Implementation
of the decision
4. COMNUNICATZON of the daoision to the adoption unit in the, organizution
APOBTZON' or impleaentat~on
~ v a ~ s s o n a n c f t
It is not always that the above illustrated
process is adhered to, to the endo Spmetiaes the
adoption unit may face problemso T h i ~ happens,
aacording to Frstinger, in f o r m a organization like
bureaucratic inetitutions, where there may be ,
discrapancy between on individualo attitude toward
the change and the overt bebviour (acceptance or
rejection) demanded by the decision unit.
Thera is a tendency over t ise , where this
discrapancy ocuuro, for the action unit to change
their k t ti tudea to syschronize with that demanded
by the authority or discontinue, misuse, circu~lvsnt
and abuse the innovation to make Ft consonant w i t h
their own at ti. tudus.
Robert K. Herton theory on Bureaucratic perseaality
orone out of hFrp enduring work in 1960. According
t!~rt.on (1960) bureaucratic structure and peroorrolity
i s actually fosusixiy on bureaucratic syotms and the
need for d y n m h in a system. The model a lso
calls attention to the unanticipated dysfunctions
in,a system whore there is heavy reliance on rule
enforcement t o ensure reliable pat terns of behaviour.
Merton explains t h a t the ins is tence of bureaucrat ic
organiza t ions t o a t t a i n .a high degree of r e l i a b i l i t y
of brhavious, an unuawl degrea of conformity with
prescribed p a t t e r u s of act ion* brings about r i g i d i t y o
According t o him, t h i s emphasis leads t o t ransference
of the sentiments from t he aims of the organization
onto the pa r t i cu l a r d e t a i l s of behaviour required
by the rules. A s he postulated:
Adherence t o tho ru les , o r ig ine l ly conceivad as means, b2comes transformed i n t o an end-in-i tself , there occurs the fami l ia r process o f displacement of goals whereby an instrumental value becorncbs t ; e ru in .~ l value,
Another s i g n i f i ~ m t dysm~lc t ion postulated
by Mertori =,nd other& drld derived from tho oae discussed,
is the tendency of bureaucrats t o r e s i s t changee
Arguing further o n thio, Peter Bowden (1979). added
that the buremxra t ic organization 1s characterized
by hiyh productive capacity but low innovatiwe
capacity. Bowden explains further that; NRssistsmce
to changr l ies in f ac to r s such ~s risk of ego,
reluctance i n tho face of uncertoiuty o r the ' threat
poped t o established p o s i t i o n r ~ ~
The relevance of us ing the s y s t u m ap?rouch
of analysis in this study becorws iuore i~nperative
when the Nigerian Prisons Service are conct.Fved r?,s
dn open s y s t e m , The s y s t e m appraach views a bureau-
crlrtic org.anizatJ.crn, like the prison ~ervice, aa
~ssentially man-directed and multiple god-oriented
network of interacting a&~ini ~r t r ~ t i r - = pr OOessQ
An th8 proceeding &iecrion,o~a tr i ed to esx@blish
tne nec.esaary theoretical framework of .analyris t k a s
would, guide tGis, acildy. For a ~ t u d y o f t h o mture,
it i a iaperative zhsr we look biackvarda so the pest
in order zo es-bl ish close links wi ta already
concluded srudirs srld works r e l a u d .to tnrr on@ at
hand. %his, s p u r frw acting a6 a ria-pcss, would
provide invaluable materiel t'mt w i l l help i n foraulating
raaoonutle working aosumptioas,
Zaib litwhituru review centres on o w o F y of tbw
views held by oouc prison reformers and cri.ibinol.o&i&ts
on trim anci puni~nmcnt.
Thc boLief tkaz iaprisonraent deters people from
cornitt iny fwther offences has iong been advanced as
onst of tho mast cogent reasons for maintaining prirons/
re~;rarid iioucca, Otber arguenus for prisonaLization
centre on deterrence and retribution as reueQns wlsy
priaons anauld be uainruinedo
*he are oll An pris.onsU said S l r Alexander Pclterwn
(1945) abut ia a matter of deyrsc.,Y He aemc tbat all
o f uu are restrictad to certain parts of tha world
&eog~'upaicaUy owing to cboice, eaployuent, pol iz icef
or econouic cond~tiorra. But those conditions are
vo lwtary wid the v i c t i u s perhaps unconsciouo of
the c ircuis tsnces . But there is however a difference
i n kind, when we confiider the impriso~lruent enforced
by the sentence o f the cour t upon a citizen who i a
suopectvd or convicted of a breach of law.
Tac blidorian Prisons derive t'ueir oxiatence fro& -
several o t a t u ~ e e u o n g which are zhe Prisons ~ r d i n m c o s
Decree MG. 5 o ~ " 1912. A E'edersl Covermcrnt w h i t e paper
Thu 'wn;. be pupcrrY provided $or the re-oryanioation
o f .tne FI'ieronur Service and i.rittgrazion o f zho Federal,
'Local (;overnaent and Wative Adnrirristration priscu in*
a centrclized Federal Prison6 Service. The Ywhita paper* b
eiso &ueratwi tLe functions of the prirona aaxig
which ore toe Pdiagn~ls io ,~ correction, 2aid)&&a; ii
traiwrng and rehabilitation of incarcerated offenders,
h e Nigerian Prisons Service Stuff h U e s P w
iioted cue objec t ivus of tne departuient ass
(a) Safe cwtody of inmstes,
(b) Xdentification of the causes of the a n t i - ~ ~ o c i o l
behaviour of offendere, and t h e troament and
reforuetion of inniates oo that tney will become
disciplined and, Saw-abiiing citizeno of a free
isociety,
ic) TraPcing of inuates towards toeir eventual
r e w l ~ l i t a t ~ o n on discmrge and
(d) Cenerwtion of f w a for govermneat tiu~ugh
safe custody of a Y~riminal priaanora and a 'prisonera,
The criminal prisoner being anyoaa clnargod w i t h or
eondemnod a crime, and a prisoner was one lawfully
ee~uli tred to the prison. Tt,e priamfi rules contained b
in the relevant Nigeria sSatutea placed tuphs i s on the
correctional o b J e c t i ~ e ~ r
high correlation between correctional penology and
professionalf8l~ To the extent that the mtioh6a
p r i m m are primarily nhukm cagesm, Kayode (19117)
with little or no f a c i l i t i e s .for correctiog,reformation
wnd vocal;ional training, they r e ~ u i r e no more .than
guard labouro
I t has been contended that the penal psli~y of
rcf~rnration-rehabi~itation i n Nigeria fa aa more than
u public diaguiae for Ymoderr~ioin&m while i n practise
nothing has changed fro& the inherited penal syaitam
that was geared tovarda the punishwant, incepaci-hition,
oad deprivation og iatercerrtid off eaders. Xn ,&pit@
of official declorationr that Nigerian Priaon Servbcu
goals k v r erhif ted to ref o m t i o n and rehabi l i t e t f ono
nothing ha8 been done in any meogingfuL .way t o ckwige
the operation and or~an i sa t ions of the ssrvive t o
r h o ~ y h , tnu 1 ~ 1 1 government wBite paper enwciekrd
correctional goals, the Director o f Prre.ons Hz-, A&,
tias foiled to enact statute^ and provide infrr8tructures
t o back up tkle policy. The situation remains essentialLy
the some till the present time and which goes t o show - the level of governmentms commitment t o rcformatlva goal8
within the prisons. The multi-plicity and complex
nature of the goals which the prisons pureue the
discussion an reformation within such eotablislhment
According to t h e declaration o f the 1971 Govorrc~~ent~o
white paper, 'tho primary function of the Migeria Prirane
is that o f ide~tifying the reasons for the anti-social
beholviaurs o f offendere and training *ern to become
useful citizens i n a free socl.etv. Director of PtSonns
Accoraink to Hescaris C. (1962). punishment ahou3.d
aim at deterrence. a d to be effective as a deterrent*
t o crime, punishment ehould be swift and certainB
k u n i . s ~ e n t must also be e~lscrnt&nlly publd c , prompt*
necepary, the l e a r t pouaible in the given cireurelonueo.
yroportionote to the crimes, dictated by tae lawso
Generally, authors, theorists and whoLars
of organizational change are agreed on t h ~ fact that
reform bringv about change* En other words, a change - in the structure of an organization bring8 about side-
effect@, like ripples on the surface o f disturbed
water,,
Apart from Katz sd Kahn whoa we have dram ao much
inspiration fron, other scholars lFks Bernard Bass and
Edward ityterband have written extensiveZy on the effect8
of orgeniz~tional change on nembrre o f the organization*
Zn their work, Qr&anizational Psychology, Bass and*
Ryterband argues that:
The prlncipa1 manifestation of the psychology coats o f organizational davetlo merit comes in form o f an u n w i l l ! ngners of organization members to change,
Still reinforcing t h i s arqument; the two writers
observe that; people in the face of change may exes-
prat ing ly resist the c h a n ~ e even if it is good for them.
change^ and reforms are often looked upon with sumrp~cion
and mistrustD They proceed to give reasons why people
react to change in orgafiizmtlonr the vay they do,
According t o them, there are four major reamns why
peoplk react against change i n organiaations. The-
reasons include:
(i) a Job d i s e a t i s f a c t i o n
( i i ) Feelings of i n secu r i t y
( i i i ) S t a tu s d i f ference , and
b i v ) Violat ion of employee expectations.
Under job d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n , people may resist
change because they see the change as advors@ly
a f f ec t i ng tha re tu rns they derive fro% the job.
Also they may r e s i s t because they see t he chan$e as
t h o ~ a t e n i n g the tenure of t h e i r posit ions, , Another
r e m o n is t h a t when t h e y fear change, they fear i t
would reduce t h e i r s t a t u s through revised s t ruc tu re ,
They a l s o r e s i s t when3they perceive t h e change would
bring about devia t ions from what they expected on
taking un t h e Job i n the f i r a t placeo
iiaviog gone through t h e gamut o f axistins literature
related t o the s t u ~ y ana taking into considanation our
tneore t ~ c u ~ Qlaff:3ru, we can c o n r i a m t l y look a t the
issues and make good reasonable working assuptionso
We have noted t h a t reform i s i nev i t ab l e i n an.
organization l i k e Nigeria Prisons Service. We have
also explored the wr i t ings and pos tu la t ions on the
response of bureaucrats t o s t r u c t u r a l changes. Of,
the varied opinions expressed, the dominant ones are
that bureaucrats are selective i n their response t o
changes i n the organization. Some, they resent and.
r e s i r t , oxhers they accept when they serve t h e i r self-
in teres t .
With these i n mind, the researcher posit t h ~ t r
( i) AS a resul t o f bureaucratization, Senior
Prison Officers i n h u g u Strate Command
perceive the reform o f prison serv ice can
succeed in their comumd.
( i i ) Nigerian Prison Officers think the prison
refora is going t o ensure good performance/
positive development.
(iii) The senior officers support for the reform
are essential and symbolic f o r the healthy
growth of the serv ice*
l ,g PCE:THoMI l~
In this phase o f the project report, the researcher
d i s c u s e d the wthodology adopted. It contains
information about:
(a) Research design
(b) Population sample b
( c ) sampling method
(d) Research instrument
(e ) Hethods of analysis.
(a) w e a r c h design:
The research design is intended to e l i c i t the reactions
or response of the Senior Pri&on Officers i n Enu~u State
Command on the r e f o r m of the priaon systemo The infororation
(date) c o l l e c t e d i s coded, rzearwce and amlyssd m d
inferenoes drawn. The inferences drawn from the analyoad
data w i l l say whather our asuumptFow are confirued or nota
The findings w i l l enable us assess the implicatioas for the
Migerian Prisons system in general and Enugu State Command
(b) -n s-t
The population o f th is study are the Senior Priaom
Officers in Enugu State Prisons command. The slenior officers
consi:3t of those grade l2vels 08 md above, that 1s tbu
rank sf Assistant Superintendent of Prison and above*
They ore 300 i n ~ w Q ~ W and they are working throughout
the prisons formtion Ln Enugu Statr, -8 prison^
formation under Enum State Command ere Enugu ?riaon,
Msukke Prison, Medium Security Prieon 031, Prima Form
Centre I b i t e Oblo, and Enugu State Prison Headquarter,
(4 s The population is scattered in gfive prison
formtion in Enugu State. The p r i a ~ n a vary in s i z e in
term o f the amber of staff and inmates stationed,
Therefora, p sysltvl~ of sampling known as cluster i s used,
On this method, inatead of Listing a11 the population,
the *clustar@ prisons formation w i l l be cboaen a t random
and a certain percentage rat io (40%) o f each cluster
taken. The researcher have seen that conducting.resuarch
i n a f e w clusters i s l e s s complex and less cost ly than
&electing the saaple from the tota l populationo
The l i s t of prisons stations in alphabetical
order with tho nubar of staff from grade level 08
and above is given belowt
TABU. I; F r r and 0ffir;trooB - 1 L D i s t r i b u t m
m t e C m
Source: Controller of Prisons Office Enugu.State Cow&.
Q N O . I PUSON FORMATIONS 1 NO. OF SENIOR OFFICERS
5 1 State Hvadpurters Offioe 1 8 0
Far the purpose of this study, only 40% sf the population I
i n 215 o f the c l w t e r ~ that is of the concerned 1
officere in 2 of the five formations w i l l be chosen a t I
random, The 2 prisons w i l l be chosen through balloting
by replacemunt. The 40% of the off icers i n each o f the
2 sample prisons w i l l be choeen through balloting by
r'eplsceactnt. Given below is the result of the random
sampling of the prisons.
S@O.
(a Hesearsb Instruman$
The research instrument that w i l l be uaed for
obtaining our data w i l l be through the aurvey method.
The mettho8 employe one of the most popular research
inwtrbent8 i n the social sciences - the queetionnaire. This instrwlent is chosen for th i s study b~eauae i t a
popularity and i t gives a f d l y accurate ae#ssament
2 ,
of the characteristic& o f the whole population0 I
Prison Foru~ations No. o f .- %
I I I
State Headquarters O f f ice
Sr~aple No0 I
80 1
@% 32
The pu&tk.*wmire is going to perform two main
func ttona here:
(A) To f i s h out the demographic information, and
(ii) The psychographic de ta i l s of our atample population.
The questionnaire w i l l be divided into three broad aeetiona
A, B. and C,
Section A w i l l ask questions about the respondents
damoyraphic de ta i l s such as age, level of oduc&ion, rank
and the location of the prison e t c . Section 8 w i l l be
concernltd with quustions about career with the Nigeria
Prison S e ~ i c g r Section C ~ i l l ' m k probing questions
about tie respondents fee l ing towards some aspects of
the refom of Nigeria Prisons.
Thit questions, will take into con&idaration the
research questions and hypothews and incorporate
these requirements i n the ~uastions,, Tho questions
will be mainly clooe-mded questions and the intensi ty
of respome will be ~naasurad on sr 5 point Likert Soale
( 3) Undecided. (b.) Ijisagrue . (5) Stronnlv D ~ F I P ~ S ~ Q ~
The aggrebate mean &core of the respondents on each b
ittu/question will be calculated t h e standard deviation
will be computed and interpretedo
Froa our 5 point an aggregate mean
of between 0 - 15 wil .1 denete %tronyly AgreeY,
1,b - 2.5 will be interpreted as @Agreem, 2.6 - 3.3
wiil be interpreted as Wndecidea\ 3.6 - qy,s will be
ifiserpreted as "isagree@, 4.6 - 5 . 5 will denote
UStrongly Disagree', A standard davi.crion of not more
than I& OD each of tPe meon score8 wili conger more
certauily as S t wauld given an idea o f the measure of
Strongly Agree ----F- l i y ree 2
Undecided 3
W g e of Interpret t a t i o n of u 0 a &Core
Standard Deviation
be) Meth2da o f analyeis - A s we proposed i n the.methodology, the da t a gathered
a h a l l supply a reasonable assessment of t h e bureaucratic
response t o t he reform of Nigerian Prisons. The
ana ly s i s s h a l l be i n th ree sections A, B and C. The
ana lys i s will fb take cars of a l l the research
quest ions, hypotheses, L ike r t Sca le measurement
w i l l be uoed f o r t he ana lys i s , The wale ranges from
s t rong ly oeree, agree, undecided, d isagree , and
otrongly d isagree , This w i l l be ca lcula ted , i n t e rp r e t ed
=d t a b l e s drawn t o show how the analysis w a s done*
&itat iorf i
The l i n ~ i t a t i o n being forseen i n t h i s s tudy w i l l
mainly arise from the c l u s t e r smpling method, Some
scholars argued t h a t t h e cluater sampling method *
produces more sampling e r r o r s than simple s m p l i n u
method,
Again, the use of the L ike r t Scale which is one of
t h e be s t i n a t t i t u d e measurement, is c&aimed t o be
d i f fe rences between a t t i t udes .
I n s p i t e of all these l im i t a t i ons , however, t h e research
design supplied a reasonable r e l i a b l e assessikmt of the
' bureaucra t i c response t o t h e reform of Nigeria Prisons,,
Robert, K , Mcrton. nBureaucratic Struatures and Personalityn ed. Robert K, Merton et al, R ddcr In Bureaucrat (Clencoe f l l i n o i s : IfkTree Press, l i p p . 365-367.
Michael 6, Wriaton, IIn defence of Bureaucracyw, Public Aanistratioa, Review, Vol , 40,
2 (NProh/April, 1980). p. 183.
sity a
Daniel Katz and Robert I. Kahn, The Sociology of Organization. (New Yorkr John Wiley & Sons 19781, p. 7710
O, George Kousoules, On Government and PQlitku jr+ M. (r~urrachusaets: North S c i t n o d 5 ) . P O 1660
. Trans . H,H. don: Routledge ape 196-20k0
Everettca, M, Rogera, and Floy Shoemsrker, Communication of Innovation: A Cross Cultural Approach. 2nd Ed. (Ntv York: The Free Press, 1971), p. 302.
Rogers and Shoemaker, p. 309
Rogers and shoemaker, ppe 310 and 311.
40. Peter Bowden. WStructure and Creativityw. I A Civil Service
Administration. Vol. 57
11. Ladigo
b
5 . Naoni B. Lynn and Richard E, Varden. 'Federal Executivesr I
1nttl.l Reactions to Chan am, &ginistrrti.on k nd a 101. 22, No, 1, (May 1980 , p. WS0
16 . . DBureauoractic Reapsnse to Civil Service Reforms* Publ i c Adminirtrttion Rwiew, Vol. 39, No. 4 ( J u l ~ / A u ~ t , 1979) pp. 333-344.
17. Arthur, P. Brief, ,st a l , @ E l i t s Structure and Attitudes: An Empirical Analytsis of Ads tion BchavioW.@ Adminitatration and Society. Pol. 8 N s . 2 (Augut, 1976). I
I
18,, E.C. O ~ u a l a , Intraduction to Research ~ethodole T (Onitlrha: Africana 8 FEP Ltd., 1982)., pa 31 .
CUPTGFL TWO
STRUCTURAL EV@UTION OF NIGERIA PRISON SERVICq
2,1 THE PRLCOLONZAL ERA
Before the advent of th* Britloh Coleniol Rule into
Nigeria, there existed some aort o f deprivation of l iberty
6s a form of imprisonment fog offences against tb
community. Authorities stated for example that among
the Tivo, offenders had to concur to be imprirsoned as
a form of punisbment. The Ogboni b u o e among the
Yorubas and the Ewedo among the Benis served ob pri~ons - and Ewedo in addition served for detaining thsac te be
sold. Lord Lugard recorded i n 1902 that *the Fulewi4r
be killed, A fern of irpr-tasnmsnt exisZad 8180 in
Lagos before the BritLoh came.
In those days people who had breached the Law of
exile, fineo mnd in other caoeo ~lorer huiai&tat&on.
There were opecific penal t ie8 foll@~iag certain
offences such as f ines for stealing, a death 8enten~e b
f o r unlawful homicide, and exile for iaceeto Punishmest
were of two typea, fines, monunl labour, csmpmsatior~
and reotitution or replacement and corporal punishaent
which could be applied without di;tmbixag the acdimary
l i f e of tho comunity . In *he o o c o ~ graup wer,e. ,death
penalty pad peradnent banishment from the group and other
were perceived r o a reriom threat to th. w01l~beLng
~f the society. k $ a r the NLgorioa tra9itisxa.l ryt.Pr,
the relsrtisnsihip betwran.punisbrrant and.offenccs we*
not consistent pnd the oriainal 3ustice meted sut to
the offenders coulcl'be raid to B e rough end oevere.
Furtheraors, there were trials by e r d e ~ l s suad
thair builty-in penalitiee. The sanetlon o f ilspriooru~srnt
was largely abwnt la the ear ly dayrs, Tmerswure no
formal counts of J w t i c s W ~ ~ Q dlspulie~ were @,rbitrat~d.
&aeuroo~ of deUing with effemders such rrp impri( i '~a,nt , I
borstal training or approved schools were aon-existtitate,
Tho traditional mrrasureo o f dealing wLth.offandtsrta
included r~conclliati~n, resti$ution on the payment
of compensation and Irttineo trial by ordeal,
d A > f i c ~ l t l ~ s ID establishkg a Pri8on as the Africens '
had already an idea of iaprfsoment "as a form of
punish~ient.m Snnctionu of iuprisomunt were introduced
uusirlg the co lonia l era and laws were passed whioh -
specifically abolished. mxie ~ ~ i ~ t c m a i t r y pennlitie~
such as aultilations and torture, triels by ordeal
t O & e t k l t i I * w i t h tbei.r. inherent yensltias , and beheading
w i t b sword. Yenuli t i e s were now being made subject
to t m requiren~mt rlat they should not be repugnant to
n&turul jus t i ce , equiry and good conscience. L i u i X s
impose kiwan punishments by spec i fy ing the ir powers
er;ttabiisniag the courts,
Zt was in Lagos t k m t tue f i r a t Yrition tidministrution
modelled on i3rit iuh &aai t i o n arid staffed by off icerr;
trbirrcrd ir! the sanre t r ac i i t i on staraea. When the Governor
appoint Judke~ a d other .officer6 buildingo priaonr
became iaperst ive , Hence the Broad Street Priaon was
built in 1672 to acconimoaate 300 prir.oner&, but the
Pr i son Oriiiriance providing f o r tne establisjhment of
Frisonb were passed along w i t h the Suprenre Court
Ordirm!ce In 1876,
Ttiougb tnu british influence extended to the
L a s t e r n bieeria as f#r back as 1685 (Oil kivers
Pro tect.o~xite) &yo tvaatic wdminiatration, tbere s t a r t e d
in 1891 ana by 1900 there were statistical returns of
t h e exisxence of Prisons Ln Old Calabar, Onitma, beniu
City, S o p e h arid De&euao
The entablishment o f the British kuie in the
Wea~ at the thle-ena of l g t k century did not s p e l l
o u t tne crown powers properly as certain treaties
appearea t o ~ i l o w the ntttive institutions t o exist
w h i l e the British Adiinistretion acted as Advisercue
Tne Lagos Suyreu~e C o u r t Ordinance operated
only i n Lagos and tba West had by 1900 Native Prisom
in each of the big towns for long term prlaoners and
short tern18 i n smaall towns. In 19Q1, the whole o f the
keatern Wigeria was declared a Protectorate and t h e
Hative ~clv Courta Proclamation of saae year, establishfag
h t i v o courte witn powers to sentence t o a maimus of
tro years tnereby recoknising a systerii chat has b-eun
existing before,,
linen Lord Luebrd inaugurated the Uorthern Protectorate
in 'lgGQ, he found tne Nor th too ex ensivs for effti?ctiv@ P direct britiotl hle. Xo f'acilitkkc Administrationo
he intx~ociuced trje sytem o f Ir-direct Rule by conf iming
the rule of tne Enirs in return for their obedience to
and acceptence of tre B r i t ~ a h Rule rrnd k u t b ~ r i k y ~
Whrle were wsrs Judic ia l Courts for uon hatives, the
k l k o l i and Snaria. Courts deal t wrtn Litigation among
tne natives. Lhese Courts d d c n dispersed justice
accorcrng to native laws and customs under the supervision
of t h e colonial keuuisnts received recognit ion under
toe Native C o w % proclametion of 19000 inirielly,
rGero wore no prison5 orxi prisoners normalty stayed i n
their houces and reported for duty cavery norrung,,
out l a t e r the ho t ive kutborit ie~s were enocuraeed 'EQ
b ~ i l d and xu yri&csa. Lef ore the AmamatLon of
the :ior't.a u ~ d Souzn both the hative ~ b i a i o t r o t i o n
and Coverment Yrisonp rcu iued witbout improvement
and without clear policy. Only i n -1685 was the
c l a o a i f i c a t i o n of yriaoners into Juveniles, faloas,
debtors and swaizing rials and a mall scale of
vocational training ~ t a r t e d . Indeed, up t o 1907,
Prison occupied a very inferior position i n s t h e
Adminiatrotion of Just ice*
b
Lord Lugard am$lgamated lYigerio on Llat January
1914 and t e e m e the Governor General. His main aim
was t o unify the Adpiroistration o f the country - Supreutt! Courx Ciruinarlcs and bative Authority Courts
Grdinw5cc of 1915 were to apply all over the country.
t h i s unification and the need for cheap prison labour
for Laatern Kailweys and Enugu Coal *line& neceos i t s t ed
revis ion o f the Prison Syotea.
prison Ordinmee '1916 urd Prison Regulations 1917
.kgulot ions f o r $heir AdminiBtrotlon - appoint Piirectorra I
and other b t u i f zo adu~ir~ iuter the prioons cnd tae
u r e c t o r i n u r r ~ was e ~ ~ o w e r k i to w a e Ptanding &ass
iw or 'gudzut~ou , ai&cipiixle, clothing etc. for prisonerr
and staff,
krmtner Ordinance, the 1916 Wative Author1 ty
Pol ice Force, check offences and a r r e s t c u l p r i t s ;
courts t o t r y them and prisons to dezain them,
M a S m g ; kverment Prisons received prisoners
fro@ bri~ish established court and c l a s s i f i e d i n t o convict b
Prisons for sentence of two years a d over, Provincial
. Frisons 2 years and under, Divriional Prislonra s ix months
Officers UUI the Prisonis exwyt U i v i a i o r ~ v l Priaouk and
a t t iues Provinuial Prisono - run by Adminiatrativr
Of ficere,
Native xutnority Prisons were run by the Hetive
Autnority wnils the Director of Prfborw exercised
general supervision.
3~rtner~ P r i s e t
Link between the Director o f Prison$ end '
Administration off icers helped to bring i n uniformity
in their AQainiatr atson. (hativs Authority and Government
~ r i s o n s ) and by 1947 this e f f o r t fa i l ed . Owing to
nwerous Native Authority prisons i n the Northern
Region and long tradition o f prison administration there
wos a cut and tLt:h;e prison adminFstratFon in North
and South seperated* The Northera Prisons came under
the Northern lniipector General of Police who acted aris
Director of Prisons and even other senior and junior
police officers carried out prison dutieso
&pr ~&$nist&:
After the World War first, and Cmaroons come %nto
Nfeeria Administration, Prisons apread i n many ereen
of the country i n spite o f that no improvement - poor
food and heal th conditions in the priaono and consequoatly
heavy deaths - resultedbin Inquiry in 1920. Stdff was
poor - aaiuly ex-service men.md those who f a i l e d
language examinations and Ad&inistrat ive o f f i c e r s and
without experience in Prison adminiatrotion,aama appl ied
t o Junior lataSf, P o l i t i c a l o f f i ce r s running the
prisons could not have time t o ca r ry ou t t h e i r p o l i t i c a l
dutieo and prison du t ies i n addition. 1915 scheme t o
t r a i n Warders foi led. Poor treatPient of prisoners,
poor c ~ a & i b i f i c a t ~ o n , no c l e w idea o r aso OX i m p r i s o m e n ~ ~
however, Some sort or vocational t r a ln lng s t a r t e a as
ear ly as lyii ana LU 1 ~22 t r ade in s t ruc to r s as toil or^,
carpenters, shoemdcero, blacksmitho etc. were employed
and i t was recorded that some t r ade r s were being taught
a t Loko js and Katduns Prisons. B U ~ t h i s attempt at
reform was r c t a r l e d by t he unpopularity of Lugard's
adminis t r l t ivc s e t up, . H i s Indirect Rule arid the
imposing of chieftaincy on the E a e t ,
Post Luwrd Eg-a:1-?9&
In 1931, the Governor, S i r Donald Ca,meroon, affected
changes i n the administrat ive and political s t r u c t u r e b
and t h i s affected the development of the prisons. 10
the East set t lements by a r b i t r a t i o n lessoned imprisonment.
From Native Courts and i n t h e North and West thc
reorgani ro t ion nave more powers t o n a t i v e a u t h o r i t i e s
and more nht ive a ~ m i n i s t r a t i o n Pr isons were opened and
i n 191~0, Wcet hod 8 Native Prisons as a g a i n s t 3 before
the reforms,
The new e ra concentrated on the t reatment of offender.
and s t a f f i n g * I n 9932, a school run on B o r s t a l l i n e
was opened a t Enup under the provis ions of t h e Native
ch i ld ren (Custody and ~ e ~ u l a t i o n s ) Ordinance, t o
rece ive ch i ld ren under s i x t e e n year8 who were convicted
of offences puriiethable by inprisonment, Other juvenile
offenders were put under c h i e f s and Missionaries f o r
t r a i n i n g and reformation.
Xn 9934, L t . Col. V.1, Mabb was appointed Direc tor
of Pr i sons i n i t i a l l y f o r t h e South. He vigorously
attempted t o r e c r u i t i n t e l l i g e n t and educated young.
men i n t o t h e Prison as "brain and n o t brawnn was
good enough f o r p r i son adminis trat ion. His main
con t r ibu t ion was tha t he supervised t h e amalgamation
of the Northern and Southern Pr ison system under the
centr=i l c o n t r o l of Direc tor a t Enugu,, On X I S ~ Apr13 ,
1938, t he Governor m a i l * h i m t h e Di rec to r o f a11 Prisons
i n Nigeria thereby end in^ t h e Northern Pri-ons aR
Sub-department of t m Police Force,
World War A A cut and prevented f u r t h e r progress,
already s t a r t e d i n the r e f o r n oi t h e Pr i son System,
However, i n 1943, air Alexander Paterson was appointed t o i n spec t a l l Prisons i n Niger ia .and mace r e c o a m w u a u o ~ ~
f o r improvement. I n the same year Prison Warders Welfare
Board-was forineu a t Enugu t o improve t h e i r condi t ions
of s e r v i c e and t o a i r grievances before t h e i r super io r
I n 1945,'Mr. R,E, Dolan was appointed Direc tor
of Prisons. H e was t he first Direc tor with previous
pr i son experience and had worked ip var ious coun t r i e s
and was q u i t e conversant w i t h the'new t rend i n penal
r e fo rn and was determined t o i n j e c t t h i s i n t o the
Nigeria Prison System, Programme of reform - . L a w
breakers not t o be regarded merely as offenders t o
be punished but as indiv iduals t o be r e h a b i l i t a t e d
and converted i n t o good c i t i z e n s . To f a c i l i t a t e his - work, he uoved h i s Headquarters from Enugu t o the
s e a t of t h e Government in Lagos. He concentrated h i s
a t t e n t i o n on care of Pr isoners both wi th in p r i son and
Un r e l e a s e *
I n 1947, he s t a r t e d proper c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of inmates
wi th in Prisons and concentrated female inmates i n b i g
pr i sons t o e f f e c t segregat ion and r e h a b i l i t a t i o n . To
achieve t h i s he introduced vocat ional and Educational
Programmes, employed teachers t o teach p r i soners and
s e t up l i b r a r i e s i n a l l the convic t pr isons.
Organisation f o r a id t o discharged p r i soners was formed
and After-Care-Officera were appointed t o take charge
of t h e p r i soners welfare.
According t o Dolan, 'best p r i son System* i n the
world is useless unless it is c a r r i e d o u t by t r a i n e d
personnel, Serious at tempt a t recrui tment of 'good
staff was made and t o improve t h e staff s e r v i c e conditions,
H e recommended special duty allowance and genera l
improveqent of staff condi t iops of service. Reduced
hours of work and t h e r a t i o n of staff t o prisoners,
Prisons Training School was opened a t Enugu i n 1947
f o r t r a i n i n g of staff on B r i t i s h Model. He created
new p o s i t i o n s f o r promising staff and i n 794.8 two
Cadets were selected and l a t e r trained i n United
Kingdom. Educated Worderesses were employed to
take charge of female innatas, on the same coqdi t ions
of s e r v i e wi th meno
58.
Reforms were hampered by locat ion of the prisons
and the obsolete s t ruc ture of the buildings. In 1953
an Open Prison was b u i l t a t Kanuri f o r long term f i r a t
offenders f o r vocational t ra in ing pa r t i cu l a r ly i n
agriculture,
3954 Constitution created Federalism and three
Regional Governments, The Regions absorbed t h e i r
Prisons i n Weatern and Northern regions, but the Dtractor
siupsrviaed thea and indeed poot senior prison o f f i ce r s
t o advise nat ive author i ty prisons. Sequel t o ~lexandcr
Paterson @crime and i ts punishment i n Nigerian e igh t - unvioble small prisons were closed d o n i n 191+8. New
regulat ions were published i n Northern Nigeria i n
1954 and the native .authori ty prisons i n the West
owing to lack of funds were being -ken over by t h e
Federal Government,
2,3 T W POST 1NDLPENUE;NCG E;RA
Consti tut ional chages and Independence i n 3960
brought prisons under the kinistry o f Internal Affairs*
The In te rna l Affairo Ministry s e t the pa t t e rn f o r
reform and indead the penal systea changed f ron
punit ive t o reforubtive. h j o r p r o b l e ~ ware haX b
how t o cope w i t h the increasing prison population
and good quality staff. Enlargement of existing buildingo
proved wlsatiafactory, but these prisons were bui l t
in Lagos. Maximum Security Prison was built i n 1964
to replace the Broad Street Prison, Madium and Female
Prisons were bui l t in K i r i k i r i , - Cadet Assistant Superintendent o f Prison8 Schema
wae introduced in 1958 Ea improve thrt quality of tha
Senior Staff and replaoe out-going European officers.
I t was after independence ,that priaonero started u i n g
double bunk beds and not wooden boarQ., and hair cut
and other treatment o f prisoners including labour weri
improved.
Native Authority Prisons still posed more cowplex
o9 the nriaons were expo~ed i n Garrants Report o f
1960, On this account Govur'nment decided to take
Qver Native ~utharity Prisons, An the fee@ of oppoai tk~n
froru tr~e watlve A u t r ~ o r i t y which felt taat this would
deprive them 01 m w m s of enforcing judgeuents of their
corlr-t;r and presr&&e, iaci~ding i t 8 ufse as a yolltsc&S.
Aftsr tiobir Kaport on ~ h k uni f ica t ion of Prisons i n
1966, Zne Goverrrinent cecreed n.ek~at a i l Naxive l iutbority
Prisons were t o be taken over by the Federal Department
of 2risons and t u t f u l l in te rgra t ion of a l l prisons
into a Federal iiysteu should be operat ive from Let
i rpr i i , 146bn. however, tbe in te rgra t ion accordink to
3ro Elias Usbould mako not only f o r wliformrty of
standards oi prison organisation and administrat ion
but also form ove ra l l improvement i n the s o c i a l aad
culsural conditions of prisoner8 i n a l l pa r t s o f tne
c o u t r ' y o
2.4 2nL FOHMATiOhi -- OF LhUGU STATL COiUYJAND
hnugu Prison was escabl ishea i n 7915 enci wro zheu
known as h i s k j e s t y l s Friso~. It was beaded by Mro
Hots who was re fe r red t o as t he officer in-charga,
The pr ioon i s l located north-west o f Enugu on a
hill over iooking Ggbete EJar~et. Since its inception,
Enugu Prison has not changed locat ion, There are no
records t o show the lock-up figurer probably due t o
the ravager of ttle c i v i l war. By 1946 maJority of
the r e c r u i t s were ex-service men, being tne oaly
p o u p of people who showed i n t e r e s t i n t h e prison
qervice, As time went on more people began t o show
i n t e r e s t w i t h the recruitment of holders of General
Ce r t i f i ca t e of E ~ u c a t i o n who vere b e t t e r educated than
the ex-service meno
The c i v i l wer which erupted i n 1967 stsgnzted
progress i n a l l facet& of administrat ion i n tho .
eas tern p a r t of Nigeria. P r i m n s under Enugu Sta t e
Comuand a r e Enugu Prison, Nsukka Prison, I b i t e 0110
Farm Centre, Medium Securi ty Prison 0 J i and State
Headquarters off i c e o
T% PUSON, REFORM
Prisoners should be segregated according t o t b c i r
offences and criuinsrl history.
Prisoners should be c l a s s i f i e d on functional
basis - t h i s w i l l f a c i l i t a t e t he app l ica t ion
of r ehab i l i t a t i on techniques.
'I'he place o f the Nigeria Prison Service i n
presiaence should be c l ea r ly outl ined,
A'he Pr i son Act of 1983 should be operat ionalo
This act of 7983 gave the prisons se rv ice a
C O U I D ~ S ~ ~ O X I ,
'lhe present desiynation @lWardsrw is no t appropriate,
Wow the emphasis is sh i f t ed t o reform a d rehabi l i -
totQon, A new name l i k e M C o r r ~ c t i o n a l Officeru
i b necessary t o occord with the rnoaern trendo
1 . Daniel Clasur; Penology: The Field i n the Encyclopaedia of the Socia l Science, ppe 513 - 528,
2, Adeyemi, A,A, F&gicin&, the Prisom i n P6J~:eri~, watlonal Law nef orm Workshop, Lagos a
r ~ b , 9th 19Ua
3. what are r r ~ s o n s for: Ually 'limeso Sept 13, . 7982, pp. 38 '- L3,
L, Im~rove Prison Conditions, Daily Star, August 3 l s t , ?gel:, back page,
5* Hon. Just ice Everest: The Prison Sy~tem, Should it continue? A paper presented et the Australian' Legnl Convention on 9th of J u l y , . l 9 8 l ; AWtralim,
6 Prisons Department Standing Orders, 1967, Version, Prisons Headquarters, Lagos.
CHAPTER THREE
BURkAIJCRACY AND BUREAUCRATIC B W V I O U R IN THE N 1 - m ~
The psychographic p r o f i l e o f t h e t y p i c ~ l bureaucrat
w i l l be examined i n t h i s chapter. 'the d i scuss ion w i l l
thcn xukrrow down sna focus on trie typical a t t i t u d e s and
behavlour of a p r i s o n bureaucrat , and what predisposes him
t o react I n The wuy he does. before thcn, a l i t t l e
look a t t h e s t r u c t u r e of ,bureaucracy w i l l he lp towards
apprec ia t ion or wnax shapes tne thoughts and
attitudes of a t y p i c a l s e n i o r p r ~ s o n o ~ off~crr, the
role af t he environment, t he c u l t u r a l f a c t o r s and
expectat ions i n t i 6 a t t i a u d e formation. Xhia w i l l
prepsre us TO spprecaa te vhy ne r e s p o m s t o change
onn rcxurrrrs Lhe way ue aoe6.
j , l TAU STHUCTUW OF BUREAUCRACY
E a r l i e r in the study, one had t r i e d t o de f ine
b u ~ . e a u ~ r ~ ~ c y arlu Lrie bur~caucraL, xne aoumanc mnuency
In -the apprown LO ~ u e s w a y ol b u ~ ~ ~ ? . w u c ~ ~ u c y has been
an emphasis on its . s t r u c t u r a l characteristic^ , &st.
of ten . the i d e a l t y ~ e ns orpo&drd on by Max Weber
forms the bedrock o f the m a l y s i s of hur@raucraC$r
A s Weber ind icu tes , b u r e u u c r ~ t i c organiza t ions
are composed of highly imugura ted hierarchy of a u t h o r i t i e s ,
super-imposed upon highly inaugurated d i v i s i o n o f
labour, It is a system of d i f f e r o q t i a t e d c o n t r o l s and
sanct ions whim a r e clearly s t a t e d i n form of * ,
regula t ions . The assignment of r o l e s is based on
t e c h n i c a l coupetence asce r t a ined through formalized
and impersonal procedures, example examinatfons,,
Within the h i e r a r c h i c a l l y arranged a u t h o r i t y , t h e
a c t i v i t i e s of exper t s a l a r i e d s t a f f are governed
by general', a b s t r a c t and c l e a r l y def ined r u l e s
The i d e a l type o f bureaucra t ic o f f i c i a l i a
appointed e i the r by a super io r o r through competi t ive
s e l e c t i o n . He i s n o t e l ec ted , This i s rewarded by
s e c u r i t y of tenure pension scheme,.regularized
procedure f o r promotion and incremental s a l a r y
The i d e a l type s t r u c t u r e t r i e s t o . el imina' te a l l
forms of personal r e l a t i o n s h i p and non-rat ional
cons kdorations,
According t o Merton, bureaucracy is a kind
of admin i s t r a t ion whicn almost t r i e s t o avoid pub l i c
d t scuss ion o f ' i t s techniqees, although it may condone
pub l i c d i scuss ion of its po l i c i e s . This i s because
650
bureaucracy is t r a i n e d t o kekp government s e c r e t s
of economic s e c r e t s from competitors, i f it is i n
the p r i v a t e sec to r .
Another important c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of bureaucracy
is t h a t i t is an orgonizacd secondary, f o r u s l group,
I t i s designed t o car ry ou.t c e r t a i n a c t i v i t i e s which
cannot be s a t i s f a c t o r i l y periorrned on the basis of
primary group c r i t e r i a .
3,2 T M BUUAUCIIATIC PERSONALITY
Bureaucracy, i n i ts s t r i v e t o produce prece is ion ,
r e l i a b i l i t y and efficiency, has produced by-product-
t h e bureaucrat , Th i s is t h e o f f i c i a l appointed t o
serve i n a bureaucra t ic organizat ion. The o f f i c i a l ,
i n the bureaucra t ic organizat ion, i n ran at tempt t o
funct ion along the p r i n c i p l e s ead j i i c t a t e s o f
bureaucracy has come t o adopt e i t h e r d e l i b e r a t e
o r otherwise, c e r t a i n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s which o re now
recogniscd as f e a t u r e s of the t y p i c a l bureaucrat .
He has been noteu t o be disciplined, methodical and
l a r g e l y r a t i o n a l o
But these c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s hqve a l s o made him
look d i f f e r e n t i n t h e eyes of h i s c l i e n t e l e , The
66,
bureaucrat has been accused of poamessing V
concept of * t ra ined incapaci ty,* Dewey's notion of
*occupational psychosisw and Warnotte's view of
uprofessionol deformation*,
Trained incapaci ty refers t o t h a t s t a t e of
a f f a i r s i n which one's a b i l i t i e s funat ion 0s
inadequacies. It means t h a t t r a i n i n g a d s k i l l
received i n the p a s t when appl ied t o a new s i t u a t i o n
m y r e s u l t irrappropriate reaeons. An example i a
when chickens a r e t r a ined t o be summoned f o r food
by the sound of a whis t l e , whis t l ing a t a d i f f e r e n t
eccasion may not be f o r food, According t o Kenneth
Burke, t r a ined incapaci ty i n the bureaucrat may mean
wpeople may be u n f i t t e d by being f i t i n an u n f i t f i t n ~ s s , ~
This p a r t i c u l a r c h a r a c t e r i s t i c i n -the bureaucrat may
be a s e r i ous hmdicop i n a s i t u a t i o n where quick +
adoption t o new forms t s required.
Dewey's concept of *occupational psychosie*
r e s t s upon much the same p r inc ip l e as t he above
observat ion, Because the bureaucrat is exposed t o
the same r rou t lne day-in day-out, he develops spec i a l
p n f e r e n c e s , an t i pa th i e s , d iscr iminat ions and emphasis.
The term psychosis is used hare t o denote a s t rong
pos i t ion of the mind. %e r e s u l t is t h a t the
bureaucrat bscoaias unnecessaily r i g i d , p a r t i c u l a r i s t i c
and r i t u a l i s t i c .
Furthermore, the bureaucrat is reqpired t o funct ion
within the confines o f regula t ions and the s t ruc tu re
i n order t o a t t a i n high degree of r e l i a b i l i t y of
behavFour and conformity. But unfortunately, t h i s
good qua l i ty leads t o another awful c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f
of the bureaucrat. Because of high adherence t o r u l e r
and prescribed pa t te rn , of behaxiour, t he emphasis
leads t o w t ransference of the serj t iueats from the
aims of theorganization onto p a r t i c u l a r d e t a i l e o f "
behaviour required by the ru l e s* Adherence t o r u l e r
o r ig ina l l y conceived a s a rnsans bucomes transformed
i n t o an end i t s e l f . There occurs i n t h e o f f i c i a l ,
the f ami l i a r process o f displacement of goals whereby
*an instrumental value becomes a terminal valuean
The charac te r i s t i c behaviour t yp i ca l l y exhibi ted here
is sluggishness, Lack of i n i t i a t i v e and red-tapisa. - Another f m i l i a r product of the &bove~described
c + r a c t e r i s t i c , is the wbureaucrat ic virtuoso.m
This one never forgets a s ingle r u l e bidning h i s
act ion and m y be of l i t t l e he lp t to h i s c l i en te l e
whea h p r o v i ~ a t i o n r a d i n i t i a t i v e are requiredo
There is s l s o thia sense o f a w p u r l t de iorpsa
and informal soc ia l re la t ionship amongst the bureaucrats
thomaelvos. This IS caused by the oenae of calBoIam
destiny eccasioned by the same i n t e r e s t s , career-
prospects, promotional routes and shared fears.
The bureaucrat is a v i c t i u of the c u l t of
iapersonolity. H e develops t h i s .character is t ic
ou t o f requirements of the job vbich induces him to
ignore the peculiarities of individual cases o f h h
cl iente le . The c l i e n t who i a , qui te underotmWa
i r r i t a t e d by his behaviour dubs hiu "arrogantw or
nhaughty". According t o a report .by F,M, Bakke in
the undqloyed Man, .They (bureaucrats) tr&t you
l i k e a lump of d i r t , ... n
The apparent stand-offishness of the bureaucrat
may be deduceu f m u the fact t ha t , i r respec t ive of
h i s position in the hiarurcbyq he represents the
power a d prest ige of the e n t i r e structuree
According to Herton, t h e bureaucrat in his o f f i c i a l
m l e is vested w i t n def in i te aul;k~.xvity which o f t e n
leads to on actually or imagined domineering attitude.
It will be observed that the above-aentioned
personality tra i t s of the buraaucrat, both the pos i t ive
arvi c!lc dcpicable are brought about by the offioialu'
a t t e~up t to act the requirements of the bureaucratic
structure, 'These particdac t ra i t s , although
widespred, a.r+ w i r i l y associated with bureaucratico
that have stablixcd against ti background of a stable
and mature political and cultural setting,- Variants
of there t r m i t a and dist inct ouuia have been traced
in transitioGl societies of which NigcrLa is m e of
arc imivert;al. But some of these traits may or nay
n c ~ t ile u l c . ib l e . in zbr 11ie;eria Prisons bureaucrat,
as p e c u l i a r to our society,
iht? reason Car. t h i s is t m peculiarity of
tile pr i s o t ~ eureaucr,acy i4ex.e the bureaucracy is very
near the ~ r a s s r o o t s where the society is i r r Q s t a t e of
triirihi xi011 o r "prie.natic ," This -means the soc ie ty
is yet t o bc transforueci into an industrialized one
ana s t i l l r t t ts ins some o f t t s traditional characterc
'I'he prouuc t o f t n i s ecological mix is found to be
q u i w ali'f'ererit from or at b e s t , B near approxrmation
of the universal burcoucret.
0"r ar3gwcnr nere therefore, is what &ekes rhe
higerjm Prisans bureaucrat behave W e way he does is
due LO a combinatlgn o f self interest, otner interest
snci tne ecoiogical factors,, Ihese factors predispose
him to rcspor~a arid react in the way he does. iie is
a bureaucrat yuitealright, but a ~pec i e i l breed o f , t h e
stock, hewed anti patterire by the type ~f bureaucrbacy
experienced. a t t h e mili .tary l e v e l o
ne has been id.entifi.ed w i t t ~ particular traits
wnicn are i n fact, modifications of the traits o f the
mi li zary bureaucrat, These t r o i t s iuclude particulerisl~,
oriantetion tow~rci'person rlzualisrri and lack of
P a r t ~ u r l s q -mu*
ParticuLarisu~ LE what K M S been variously described b
as neptlsn, l'avour'itisu ma Mconnectioniornu Lt
. marLife&rs when ar; official shows preference t o h ~ s
t r l o e xu ~n caribyirrg ouc hi6 o f f i c i a l auties or owes
s~ecial ob1igario.n t o hi& group i n the performance of
n i s r o l e or f u c t i o n s * k typical exarrrple is when an
ofzlcer use& his o f f i c e t o placate or provide syeLis l
treatnrent for arembers of his family, friends or lineage,
As Lloyd Faller puts iz, the extended kinship
system rnaKeg it imperative that bureaucrats in this
setting would oe faced with particularistic dewand,
The corporate nature of the kinship system placeo
strarn on tce prison bureaucrats
s o t n s post occupied by tne bureaucrat is seen
as H group poseesslon. Conseq~ently, influ*nces w i i l
be exerwa by w h h t Ir'r~ce c a l l s , 'the #s i@af icant ~ t b e r s , ~
tuat 1s tne uieuaers of tne. buruaucrclts poug. Thus,
when r;Ge bureaucrat tr'eato a relat ive w i t h spec ia l
i n t e r e ~ t , he only fulfilling societal expectsltiaas,
Another iniplicatloi of kinsh ip system is tne
teriaericy to expect personal conaiderations t o (. I ,.
72, -
overr ide oLners. This means that the impersonal
a p p l i c a t i o n of' bureaucrat ic rules co l l apses when she
o f f i c i a l ib confront& with urealsu persons. here the
aegree of r e l a t i o n s h i p Hconr~ect ionu deterulines bow tine
r u l e k o d a be oyylieoo
w u g is cba rac te r i sed by tne applicazion of
b u e a t c r a t i c r d l e ~ , and r e g ~ i a t i a r ~ as an end i t q e l f . This
i 8 riigawdless of -rbe reiatianship between a specific
t i p p i ~ c s t i o n of a regula t ion and the goal t k a t the
r egu la t ion aau tw goal that the r e g u l a t i o n was designed
to serve* Fr ice observed t i ~ a t ritualism i a endemic i n
b u r w u c r b t i c organization. This is nelghtened by l a c k
of a pure iaeologyo
3@4 ~ i ' M ~ ' l ' ~ ~ u b uE ' l ~ ~ ~ u l c l t ? k i u l u F~USOSUS SERVICE
Nigerian Pr ison ~ c r v l c e is a eocip l , s e c u r i t y md
para-military s e r v i c e and its opera t ions f a l l under
Federal Mnf stry of ln te r rml Affairs. As contained
in becree No. 9 of 1972, t h e Con t ro l l e r General o f
kri~ons is t k e ncad of t h e Prtsona Service. fie i a
respons ib le t o the E'ederkl U n i s t e r of i n t e r n a l '
Affa i r s , 'the Cont ro l l e r General of Prison is assisted
by, s i x ueputy Contro l le r Generals of P r i ~ o n and these
Deputy Contro l le r Generals head the s i x operatiom1
units i n t h u service. There are:
1. Administration, Finance and Budget,
a f i a i r ~ of u e prisons i n l ine with tbe Federal
Govrrruentasi policies and guiaeline~ on the rsafet ewtociy,
refornratiou sncl rebab~ l l ta t ion of inruatee. In doing so,
nrt ensures coax effectiveness. The Con~roller General
inlta;rtes yolrcies reiating to' Prison adnrinistrction
in higerla, he veto and approves f~nwl arafto of
rrison stanaing oruers anu regulations. He finaiises
ocrion for rorrf ication by ~ i i n i s tor ia l Disciplinary
board u r ~ u ~ u ~ t e r ' s reih-cin& to the diaciplino of off icers
on grade 07 ana belowo
What are prison:. for? "Fqi i. l y ? ' inwsN September 13, 15482, p p ~ 38-43.
Con~estlon i n Q C ~ ? ' k k j s o n ~ , in the Nigerian Observer , April 7th 1'?83, p, 30
"Improve P r i s o n Condi t ; io r~~ ' ' , Daily Star August 31st 1387, hack page.
The Cons ti t u t i o n o f Federal I i ~ ~ p ~ l h l i ~ of Nigeria , 1979.
baniel Katz, and Hob~rt 1. Kahn. :ic~cial t ' sychology o f
Organizstinn. (New York: John k i 16.). & sons .i9?8), yll, ' 7 7 1 - ' i 7 3 0
Michael J . Wris t o n "Pn Uef ence o f 1~ureaucr'ac:y Publ ic A d i n i n i s t r o t i o n Heview, Vol. 110 No, 2 (March/Apr.il, 1980), 1). l i l j ,
- CHAPTER FOUR
PROFESSIONALISPL TN THE: NIGERIAN PRTSONS SRRVICG
The d e f i n i t i o n s of t h e term profe=s iom me characteriacd
by impression ana equivocation, But, t h i s is n o t a
l i n g u i s t i c problem, The d e f i n i t i o n a l problem has it6
r o o t i n the blurred boundary between t a e term occupation
and profession, o r what they arnote. L~rson (1979) has
eloquent ly argued t h a t nthe profess iona l phenomenon doea
no t have c l e a r boundaries. L i t h e r its dinenoions a r e
devoid of a c l e s r empir ical r e f e r e n t , o r its a t t r i b u t e s
a r e s o concrete t h a t occupat ional groups t r y i n g t o
upgrade t h e i r s t a t u e s can copy them w i t h r e l a t i v e ease."
The s o c i o l o g i c a l l i t e r a t u r e has nonetheless i d e n t i f i e d
c e r t a i n cogni t ive , noruht ivs , p o l i t i c a l ond economic
f a c t o r s and processes t h a t ' d i s t i n g u i s h profess ions
from non-professional occupationsr
Professions axse conceived as R u n c o m o n ~ occupstioxu
charec te r i sed by:
J Conerent - s o w times e s o t e r i c - body knowledge
embodying theory, methods, research, t r a i n i n g and
p rac t i ce ; b
75 4
Lb) Xechnical autonomy and coherent a r t i c u l a t i o n o f
c i i s t inc t ive and se l f - adn in ia te red coae of ethics
wnich usual ly incorpora te e x p l i c i t a l t r u i s t i c . o r
s e r v i c e e t h i c s which o f t e n se rve t o conceal the
r e l a t i o n s of e x p l o i t a t i o n and oppression t h a t
a r e embedded i n professi.onolism, w d
( c ) knhanccd income, p r iv i l edge and power, inc luding
high ranking: on t h e s t a t u s h i e r a r c h of the s o c i e t y - 611 o f whish a r e legitimlsed by f a c t o r s i n (a) and
\b) above arid pro tec ted by t h e s t a t e (Larson, l y y g , ~ ~
'Ahere is need t o ponder on t h e extent t o which the
d a i l y a c t i v i t i e s of the pr i son s t a f f i n t h e country are
inxluencea by an ur~derstanding af cr iminological lheary
and research evidence. O r , what propor t ion of the
na t ion ' s p r i sons s t a f f nad acquired p r e c i s e ana hi.gh-
l e v e l skills founded upon theory and research? Lviaence
s e w t o lnulcate Laat d a i l y concerns and a c t i v i t i e s of
the pr i son staff n e i t h e r determined o r guided by
theory and research , This is ~ a r t l y because the dominant
funct ions of contemporary Nigeria Prisons demand b r u t e
fo rce and stamina instead of r a t i o n a l i t y and i n t e l l e c t
from the s t a f f . Furthermore, and p a r t l y as a r e s u l t o f 6
t h e na ture of funct ions emphusiec! i n the Niperla Prisons
only en i n s i g n i f i c a n t proport ion of the s t a f f acquired
end a r e able t o apply p r e c i s e and complex s k i l l s t o t h e
problems confronted by pr i son inmates and s t a f f . These
observations i n a l c a t e tnat tne seed oL' p r o f e s s l o n a l i s ~
1s y e t t o De p lan tea Ln he Aiigerian Pr isons Service.
'Lge proress lona l pnenouenou emboaies p o l i t i c a l
ana,economic re l a t ions . xhe a l t r u i s t i c o r s e r v i c e
e t h i c s consciously a r t i c u l a t e d by m e proxesslons
mark ZOe p r a c t l t l o n e r s s t r u g g l e f o r s o c i a l , p o l i t i c a l l
and ec~nomic leverages i n the soc ie ty . The s t r u g g l e
f o r p ro fess iona l i sa t ion and maintenanate of p ro fess iona l
s t a t u s 69 d i f f e r e n t occupations are aimed a t the
appropr ia t ion of s o c i a l , economlc and p o l i t i c a l resources
through t h e monopoly of the supply of p r a c t i t i o n e r s
and knowledge t o t h e consumer market, This is-why
profess iona l i sa t ion has an ingred ien t of conspiracy
a g a i n s t t h e ~ o c l e t y . I n order t o w a r d t h e i r socio-
economic snd p o l i t i c a l advantages, e s t ab l i shed profess ions
def ine ttls scope o f new r o l e s wi th in t h e i r domain in .
order t o coopt emergent occupations wi th in t h e f i e l d
and r e l e g a t e them t o subordinate pos i t ion . The fu l ly -
f l e d p d profess ion are ab le t o do t h i s through t h e support
of the s t a t e which grants the& l i cence t o monopiblise the
the supply of practitioners through accreditation,
certificati~n, membership, registration, vetting of
knowleage-claims and product control,
bxperience and information from several countries
indiaate that crime control, administration of penal
Justice and corrections through the instrumentality
of the prison usually involve the participation and
cooperation of men and women from several professional
and non-professional occupations,
A glaring policy and operational ckfects
of the Nigerian Prison System is the grave disparity
between its objectives and what it actually does,
The articulated objective and functions of the prisons
include the following correctional functions:
Classification of prisoners to facilitate their
treatment, Giving vocational and educational training
to prisoners to enhance their eventual rehabilitation
on discharge. Giving psychological and sociologFca1
treatnpent to offenders to effect their reformation,
Perforinin& other function that arc necessary for the
reformation and rehabilitation of offenders.@ Nigerian
Prisons Service Gtaff Duties Manual, 1985; pg, 1-20
These funct ions were suppoeed t o be rooted i n the
p r i son system's ndiagnos isn of t h e causes of the
a n t i - s o c i a l behaviours of t h e offenders. However,
nothing of these s o r t s c o n s t i t u t e the o b j e c t of d a i l y
concerns and p r a c t i c e s i n t h e country's prisons.
The Nigeria Pr isons System is overty and devas-
t a t l n g l y b r u t a l and repress ive , bu t n o t because t h e
s t a f f a r e saddis ta . The problem r e s u l t e d from poverty
of penal p o l i c i e s and lock of conuoituent t o humanitarian
va lues and prokect ion of human l i b e r t i e s , wel fare and
d i g n i t y beyond r h e t o r i c s by those who determine
j u d i c i a l and penal p o l i c i e s by v i r t u e of t h e i r c o n t r o l
o f , o r subterranean inf luence over state power.
Law-enforcement i n t h e c o ~ n t r y ~ t o o o f t e n f a i l t o
comply.with the minimum requirements of r u l e of l a w
and s o c i a l democracy. It i s the re fo re , no t surp-
r i s i n g t h a t those who determine t h e na t ion ' s
c r iminal and penal j u s t i c e p o l i c i e s conceive the
p r i son as technology f o r adminis ter ing c r u e l t y *
TiU NELD FOK YkISON MFORM
The problems of p r i son congestion and offender
r e ~ i d i v i s i o n i n Nigeria ca l l f o r a- c l o s e r look & t h e
opera t ion of t h e e n t i r e c r iminal j u s t i c e sy tea ,
pa r t i cu l a r l y i n the area o f treatment of offenders.
Researches i n Nigerian Prisons ind ica te the exis tence
of de f ic ienc ies i n the pr ison system which ca l l f o r
urgent a t t en t ion .
The need f a r p a r t i c u l a r reform of pr isons
r e l a t e s t o t he fac t t h a t imprisonment has no t been
a p a r t i c u l a r de t e r r en t instrument and t h a t t he
p r ac t i c e i s most o f ten Oysfunctional i n terms of
counter-productive e f f e c t both t o t h e incarcera ted
individual and t o the wider society. For t h i s reason,
the use of pr ison as a form o f punishment and offender
correc t ion should be ds-emphasized'in c e r t a i n ca tegor ies
of offenders,, Lmphasis should therefore be o n . d e - i w t i -
tut ionbLizat ion of punishment.
The s p i r i t of the present pr ison sy ten is based
on a ve ry out-moded pr ison ordinance of 1916. a s
puni t ive aspect as contained i n t h e Pr ison Act o f
1972 8 t i l L ex i s t s , The Prison Act of 1972 i t s e l f made
no use fu l fresh impact on t he s t r u c t u r e of the pr ison
o r on i t s administration.
The pas t three decades have witnessed a kind of
revolut ion i n the area of offender correc t ion , both b
i n theory and prac t ice i n m ~ s t developed countr ieso
The Scandinavian countr ies n d United S t a t e s of Arperico
seem t o be -on the lead i n t h i s area. Since the 19th
century, Prison administrators i n the United S t a t e s
of America have succeeded i n el iminating most of t h e
inhuman trset.wmt t o which prisoners used t o be subjected,
Aduittedly, ce r t a in over-populated prisons i n severa l s t a t e s
could not wholly eradicate the inordinate tendencies
f o r the severe t rea tnen t they met out t o offenders.
especia l ly by impatient and over-excited o f f i ce rao
ptil recent ly* the only concern t h a t Nigerian
courts have exhibi ted toward prisoners ha8 been t o
ensure t h a t a prisoner was well-legally confined
and t h a t he was provided with the basic neces8it ieo
and t r e a b e n t required to ensure h i s ~ u r v i v o l . What
is urgently needed is t h a t 'both the courts and the
Prison Administrators should beg in- to show concern
about t h e p l i hh t of pr isoner ' s r i ~ h t and treatment,
4,2 THL CHAIN OF CWIMAND
The Control ler General of Prieons i s responaibla
t o the Minister o f In t e rna l Affairs through the Director
General Minis t r y of l n t e r n a l Affa i rs f o r the- control and
e f f i c i e n t adminis t ra t ion o f the Prisons Service i n l i n e
with t h e Federal Government's p o l i c i e s and guidel ine8
on the s a f e custody, reformation azrd r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of
i m a t e s and e a r l i e r s t a t ed .
A s contained in Deuree No. 9 o f ?972* the
Contro l le r General of Priaons is assisted by t he rest
of the staff i n t h e funct ions of t he department,
I n doing ao, i n s t ruc t i ons are passed downwards and
r e spons ib i l i t y increases upwards.
The next on the chain of comand a r e f ive Deputy
Contro l le r General of Prison. These Deputy Contro l le r
Generals head various u n i t s o r departments and they
r epo r t d i r e c t l y t o t h e Contro l le r General.
The Ueputy C ~ n t r o l l a r Generals ore followed
by s i x t een Ass i s t an t Contro l le r Generals. They
assist the deputies. Some of them are incharge
of Zones c rea ted f o r e f f ec t i ve adu in i s t r a t i on of t he
pr ison sys tea , The'zones a r e f i v e i n number
A, B, C , D, and E. h u g u State Command fal ls under - Zone 'lit with i t s headquarters at Owerri.
The Ass i s t an t Contro l le r Generals of Prison
arc followed by the Control lers . The Contro l le r of
Prisons art t h e o f f i c e r s t h a t head s t a t e commands.
They are o w i l l each state of the federation including
ADU jd . Lr l ~ : L C State Command, there are pr ison s ta t ions ,
Our w i n focus is Lnugu State Command where there are ,
Lnugu Prison, Medium Security Prison Oji, Nsukka Prison,
Ibite 0110 Prison Farin Centre and the State Headquarters sf$.kr
off ice .
Xn the Lnugu Stztr? Prison Zo;n~land, a Controller
of Prisons i s inchurge of the Comrnand and they are
three Deyrlty Con tx -~ l l . e r :~ working under him, These
Drputy Controllers head various units under the comand.
An organizat iond chart of Enugu State Prq so-
execuuve star1 or sensor Service graae and t h e disciplinary s t a f f .
4.3 STAFF THAINING UUI
Every. prison staff or o f f i c e r is required t o
urmergo a baaic course. The junior o f f i c e r s attena
rtcrui tuent course arid t h i s course last f o r s i x uonthso
The basic Gtanaara b m i l l are acquirea while on training.
'Lhc juniur o f f i c e r s w i l i si-c for an exainat ion mci
pass before tney are posted t o various corwnmas.
iiii courp~ction of successfui course o f t r a i n ~ n g
at roc Priboil SelWic@ Traiuing ScLool, a prison officer
w i l l . be a l i ~ t e a a nurober, t n i s n u b e r wili be -used in
every couici~cation concernin& the offic.er. There arc
'Ink prison staff college Kairuri train senior prison
oi ' l ' ic ials on various courtres and tney award certificates
and diplomas.
The recruituent and appointment of junior and
senior o f f i c e r 6 into the Nigerian Primn ~ e r i i e is the
respons ib i l i ty of the Federal (;averment, on behalf o f
wnich immigrations ana Prisons Service board exercises
tueir powers, Tne Prison Service comprises.of the
Administrative tiraaa (benior 3ervice Off icera) and t h e
su~ortlii?ate grade ( L K O ~ ana rank and f i l e ) a
uypointuents to the administrative grade i o
invfwieb1.y carried o u t by the Federal Service Cosnuiasiono
Tim recruitment of Warders is further delegated t o the
Corrtroller General o f , Prisons incbargs vho further
allows the Contx.ollero incnarge o f tne States to recruit
toe quota for eacn state, AS at now, ~ n e uinuaun
case iaaaequacy oi personnel witn tae requisite qilal~fi-
Sq.m-~a~eaaeuts oz Prison scaerrie was introouced i n
155d s p p o i p t i r ~ ~ qua l i l ' i e~ young iqigeriano aainly
i'rou o u t s l o e trie bepclrtuent as potential officers i n
a n . Tne quaiif ications inter-alia included b
puast:b i r r two b d ~ ~ e c t b ML &he C;.C&, iidvhnce Leve l o r
H . S . C . Conf imat ions as ASP.s was a f t e r t h r e e years of
trairling both here and overseas.
This scheme yielded i ts f r u i t s and t h e department
solved i n some measure its problem o f q u a l i f i e d
personnel i n the o f f i c e r cadre and'indeed a prison
o f f i c e r could now s tand proudly on hia OW i n any place.
Bdsides, the p o s i t i o n kept on improvinp and presen t ly ,
d i r e c t appointment8 t o senior officers are being made,
t h e a ~ p o i n t e e s incldding nraduates and peraons with
wide experience i n o the r f i e l d s .
Plodern c r i m i n o l o ~ i c a l and penological t h e o r i e s
demand good degree of education and i n t e l l i g e n c e
t o understand and apply e f f e c t i v e l y vhrioua s k i l l s .
Thio is necessary because of many educated pernona
serv ing sentences of imprisomenl ,
I, m r i m Prj.son5 Service, ~'ecturo Manual Prison Headquarterr, Lagos, 19720
2, The kncyclo~aedic American~, Vol. 22 (Americana Corporation, U 0 S . A . , 19791, p. b19a
3. Walter, C, neckless, 'l'rre G r ' l w e Problem, Meredith Pub, Cou. New York, 1967,
4* W , K . U . N ~ p e , Unpublished Lectures on Crimnology & Penology, U.N.W. 1980,
Ur, 1, Obasi, Unpublished Lectures on Bureaucracy, U c N e l V . , 15940
b r;r~cyclopaedia Lirltalriica, Inc, Vol. 18. ( . w l l l i a u i Benton, Publisher 1943 -' 19731, P o 556.
7. Paul &wards, 'Lue On aedig of Philo- Vol. 1, Tcie%%llan Corn. & The Free Press, New Yorlt, 1967, ' pp, 2616-267 -
CHAPTKR FIVE
DATA AIVALYSIS
As I proposed in the research metho~o~oky , toe
data gatl~er'ed he,e 1s hoped t o supply a reasonable.
assessment of the bureeucrauc response to the reform
of NLgerran rrrsons,,
xr~e major instrument used i n t n o data gathering was
w e survey queotionnbire, A dppornt que~tlonriaire
d ~ v i a e d into th ree sections, A , B and C was deiigned.
CUCU sectLon was i r ~ t e ~ ~ ~ ~ e a f;o e l i c i t inforrplation that
WOULU ne ip towards the conf irwation or otherwise
or tk~e egrlier assumptions. -
the demographic details of the res~onz8nt. These include
the 6ex, ag?, rank, location and educational background*
Section B was d e s i p e d ' t o e l i c i t from the respondent,
t h e details of his career in the Nigerian Prison Service,
Section C of the questionnaire delved into the
at t i tudes of the senior ~ f f i c e r s toward some a s p c t s
of the reform, Probing closed-ended questions wer'e
asked about the bureaucrat's feeling towards the reform
and these were. measured on a !%point L i k e r t Scale rum
corresponding with:
1. S t r o n g l v Agree
2, Agree
30 Undecided
I+. U s a g r e e
5. Strongly Disagree,
Hespondrrlts were asked t o i n d i c a t e t h e i n t e n s i t y
of t h e i r f e e l i n g s on c e r t a i n aspects of t he reform i n
accordance with Rensis L i k e r t ' s method*
In the research design, a random sample of
2 prison formations r e p r e s e n t i n g 2/5 of t he p r i son
formations i r j knugu S t a t e Cowand were chosen,
Forty percent (40%) o f t h e sen io r officers i n t h e
sample prison f o r ~ ~ a t i o n s on s:d;u s a l a r y grade levels
08 t o 16 were chosen randomly, This was done sizce
the number of t h i s csdre of o f f i c e r s vary from one
prlson formation t o t h e other .
Accordingly, ques t ionnai re were administered
on tt:e randouJy se lected offici2rsso Out o f the total
of 68 q u e ~ t i o n r ~ a i r e s ' d i s t r f buted, 67 were 4uly
coGpleted and returned, s i g n i f y i n g an werage of 99.5%
r e t u r n of cruestionnaires. The t a b l e below shows the
d i s t r i b u t i o n and r e t u r n of quest ionnaires .
TAhLh IV: D i s t r i b u t i o n and Heturn of Ques t ionnai res I
5.1 Y~~EISF~N'I.'A~'~(~~N/INTEHPH~~;TATION OF DATA
Sectio;l A of t r e ques t ionnai re b s 8 quest ions, The
*I o
2.
quest ions ranged from age of respondents t o t h e i r educat ional
- Prison Farrnat~on
Erluyu Pri- son
=itate Headquar- t e r s Off ice
Total
background. The demographic details of the respondent8
a r e presented below but no at tempt is made t o c o r r e l a t e
I
Returnc %
97
100
98 05
No, of Senior
,-"
90
80
170
it t o t h e answers they gave o r t h e i r i n t e n s i t y o This i s
because it is considered n o t wi th in the scope of p resen t
% Sample
40%
us 4046
study, Again, the inf luence of background has l i t t l e
relevance t o the s tudy because i n t h e course o f d i s t r i b u t i n g
t h e ques t ionnai res , it w a s discovered t h a t d i f f e r e n t i n
No,oi Questio- nnairo
36
32
68
grade. l eve l s d i d not p l ay much r o l e i n the respons ib i l i t ior r b
No.. Heturnea
35
-
32
67
I'AbLG VX: Rank of Hes~ondents
Hank I Frequency
ASP
DSP
SUPT . CSP
ACP
Table VT shows that Senior Officers fall betweeq
the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Prison te
Controller of Prison with im the State Commandr
TOTAL
Gade Level of ;the Reagpdents
67 1 100 7-
Grade Frequency - 4-- % -
13 - 15 TOTAL
4 67
6
100
From the above table on grade level of respondents,
&I snows t u a L majority of tne officers f a l l wituin
sraao iwsi 06 - 10, aud they fall in all the unito
of the service,
T A B U V I I I : Sex of Rns~pndents
Male
L - Sex
From the above table, 73 percent of the reapor~denta
Female
TOTAL
are males w h i l e 27 percent are females. '
--F
Frequency
TAULF. IX: Rel ig ion elle eve of ' ~ e s ~ o n d e n t s
%
18 -U
67
27
700
Chris t ianit)
Islarn
Religion
From their religion, maJority of the of f icers i n the
state cornand are C h r 1 b t l w o b
Frequency % f
93.
T A B U X: Educational Background of Res~ondents
Couple tea Sec ./'Tech/ Voca~ionul
. Category
University degree/ HND,NCB,DIP.
Frequency %
Post-Graduate ,
On their educational background, the mgJority appear
to have one post secondary qualification or tho others
TOTAL
They range from diplowis to degrees and high degree&.
67 100
TABLE X I : Years sgent i n Service by the Reapondents OH Lenght of Service
( i i ) 1 11-20 years I 30 1 45 ( i i i ) 1 21-35 years I 12 1 18
I TOTAL
respondents spent less than 20 years in the service.
1% shows that o greater number of the respondents
have more years to serve in the service*
The above seven questions on age, rank, grade,
sex, religion, educational background, length of aervice,
were asked to ascertain the respondents' real identity
and coapetence to answer the questions. Thew
questions and answers satisfy one that the respondent8
arc t r uc prison service bureaucrats in the required
category.
Frequency % CI
Lnugu Prison 35 52
32 48 J-
67 100
An tr le above t a b l e , mare than fifty percent of
t;i~tr r~spondents serve at bnugu Prison w n i l e the rest
work st the kitate Headquarters office in Enuguo
. #hat appears to be sienificant i n this section "An n
a l t t o u g n i~ is riot e con&rri of thrs brudy, is the
r a a r k m l e nigh inciaence of nighly qualified people
LA ~ ~ A L S cate&oryo As Table X shows, of the senior
of f i cerh possess some form of post-secondary qualificationo
Inis appears to be a great uepsrture fro& zhe old song
o f ~ ~ i & ~ r i & n Prisons hervice being peopled by unqualified
s t a f f o
In t m buosequent quest~ons An Section B of sue
questiormaires, resyonaents were asked questions about
tr lelr job ana I ,eve i of awareness of the reform, Ihe
q ~ e s tioris were:
i-iow were you recruieea into service?
'i'AbLii X i Z l ; & w - ~ _ e ~ , o g ~ n t s wgre. recruited -u - . - .
Through Federal Service, Cowips ion
Throuah Transfer Lof Service
Qtk~erb (Specify) "--------- - TOTAL
Frequency 1 )i
From the above table, it shows t h a t 45% of t h e
respondents were r e c ru i t ed through wr i t t en /o r a l comnetit ive
examination, This means t h a t they were r ec ru i t ed as
;Iunior officers and l a t e r rose t o sen io r officer^ grade.
While 37% of the respondents were r e c ru i t ed directLy t o
sen io r o f f i c e r s level through Federal Service Comission,
and t h i s categorv were people who cane i n as degree
holders. 18% of t he respondents were r ec ru i t ed through
t r an s f e r of service. This RrOup c o n s t i t u t e t h e
s p e c i a l i s t s i n d i f f e r e n t f i e l d s ,
In nuest ioo No. I , respondent8 were asked the
aer iod they have spent i n pr ison s e rv i ce and whether
I Yes 4.5 1 67
i ~ . j o r i t y of the r t t s~onden t s armed . t h a t ttre job as
wolwrwnlle and rewarding.
I n questpion A ~ O , 11, responaents were asked Lo g ive
details on tneir answer. 07% of tne respondents l i k e
the job because o f job s e c u r i t y , impacting good
behaviour t o pr i soners , s a l a r y being enough and
experience acquir8edo Soae of t h e respondents pointed
out t h e prison service is n o t q u i t e rewarding because
tnere! 1s no .roorP f o r one to i n i t i a t e h i s own thougnts
and every i n s t r u c t i o n is given f r o u aboveo
The Kespondento were asked on quest ion No. 12
whether they w i l l encourege t h e i r ch i ld ren t o make a
ca ree r i n t h e Pr isons Service.
'I'AbU. XV: W e s m t s r e a c t i o n on t h e i r children min !& - e
Yes
LUot q u i t e
WU
Category
Ahout 60% of respondents s a i d they w i l l encourage
Absolutely Ns ---
t h e i r ch i ldren t o .>oin t h e service if they s o wish,
Frequency
Whilq 37% of them d i . d n t t quite ab<ree and 3% s a i d
%
2
abso lu te ly no, '
3 -
In order to find o u t the fee l ings o f p r i son o, fficers
as t o what the public t h h k ' a o o u t them, quest ion No, 13
w a s asked. .
TAIJLL XVI:
True t o some e x t e n t
Not t r a e a t a l l
TOTAL I 67 1 100
%
0
Category
Very t r u e
A ~ O U Z 82% o f the respondents disagreed t h a t they
Frequency
0
a r e no t r i g i d , ignorant , co r rup t and wicked. This
shows t h a t the' publfc opinion i n t h i s regard is n o t
t r u e a t a l l . While 18% said t o some e x t e n t because
of t h e o l d methods of handling pr isoners . Sacondly
the o ld p r i son o f f i c e r s were trained by t h e c o l o n i a l
o f f i c e r s handle prisoners on hard way,
I n quest ion No. 14, respondents - r eac ted aga ina t
w h a t people th ink about them, they denied t h a t they a r e
n o t wicked, r i g i d and cor rup t , Standing Order of t h e
-
prisons se rv ice do no t allow o f f i c e r s t o a i r t h e i r
view concernipg the service publicly. Many officer6
agreed t n a t the se rv ice is humanitarian and they respec t
human r i g h t o
TABLK XVlLz Res~ondents-response on th@ Prisons Sew- -- Options
Inadequate Financing
Excessive Control from M I A
Lack of motivation
Late payment of s a l a r y -
Frequency 1 %
Asked t o choose from a l i s t of opt ions which they
regard as Prisons Service biggest problem the sen io r
o f f i c e r s o r the bureaucrats s t a t e d an unequivocal uExcessive
ControlHfrom ~ e d i r a l Ministry of I n t e r n a l Affairs . The
a f f a i r s of Federal Ministry of I n t e r n a l Affairs is run
with t h e Minister incharge who i s appointed by t h e
Federal Government,
A l o t I 49 1 73 Not much
Nothing a t a l l I 0 1 0 I I
TOTAL I 67 I 100 From t h e above t a b l e , over 70% o f s e n i o r p r i s o n
o f f i c e r s know a l o t about reforms i n the Nigerian
Prisons. Since 1989 t h e reform has been i n fo rce
but t h e ser iousness of it becomes a problemo About
18% of t h e respondents s t a t e d t h o t - t h e y do n o t know
uuch about the reform, t h i s may be as a r e s u l t o f
t h e slow pace of the reform from its on set.
TABLtL X U ; H e ndents r e a c t i o n on P o s i t i v e impact 93!%e Reform on Pr isoners
'I Yes !I
!I 47 1 70
1
I Category ! I
2 r o ~ t h e above t a b l e about 70% sf the respondents
Frequency
blot Q u i t o I
Absolutely Not I U I L _
agreed t h a t t h e reform have p o s i t i v e impact sn t h e prisonerso
- %
22% d i d no t q u i t e agree while 8% indica ted n o t a t . a l l o <
15
5
22
8
100 TOTAL 67
101.
SECTION C.
In this sect ion of the questionnaire, further attempts
were made to synthesize the reaction of the officer8 towards
the reform, They were asked to agree or disagree to some
statements about the reform.
This sect ion was designed to measure the level of
rejactionlreception of some aspects o f tho reform. Tbr,
sect ion consisted of 7 items numbwed 18 to 24 grouped
i n t o 5 p o s s i b l e responses, each response wi th coded
scote thus:
In my subst . :quc~~t wnalysis of the'rtactions, ones
concern w i . 1 1 uairlly be tne aggregate reljponee on each
item, 'i'hia will. be reyreeentcrd by the aggregate man
score on eacn i t e u , ';l'ha stunciard deviation on cuch
ueuri score w i l l be computed and snown to give us an .
i a e a of t h e Qi5persiort of ~nswcers on tne iteiiir it
rril.1 enable us .accept the answers as authentic or
re jec t t,r.crn, ~ 'h j . 5 s ta t i s t i ca l procedure nas been
acivoc&~ea as significantiy reilable by scholars of
attit.udr meosurcmenta The lesser the stanaard deviation
the more certain w e aggregate respouse on t h e itemo
l't~us an ii&geegat;c mean o f coaed scores with ranging .
vbiuec, each range denotinb an interpretation w i l l
enable us araw conclusion on tne i t emo
'1ne table below shows the range o f coded mean
scores, tne rsquired standard deviation and corres-
pontij rr& irrtvrpretati ono
a b l r * X A : lnter rer; tlon of Ra - f A m
Interpretation I----
St rong ly kliree
Agree
Accordingly, tne statement on item Aqo. 18 was:
Frool what 1 know about m e reform, it will bring
about over politicrzation of prisons service.
'i'he Frequency score, the aggregate mean score and
s tanaard d e v i a t i o n is shown below;
Response . Andiviaual Freq~iency i% Category Frequency Coded Score
-----I-- S c o r a -
Where FX - 120
The Standard Ueviation - 0 - g
A$ Where It: r X -
Therefore, following the ear l i er propooal i n
TGtlt XX, the response to the statement w i l l be wi th in
the randc: of 7 06 - 2& with a standard Deviation of 0.95
The response is therefore, interpreted as below: e
' l 'A&3h XXAI: I n t e r ~ r e t m o f Y S C o u
Therefore, the aggregate rosponse/rcaction of
the sauyle of the bureaucrats i n ~Uigerian Prisons Service,
UeMb score of 1.6 and star.aaru uavioti~rr o f Q095 on
politicization is wbr lot i r .
OrL Itera 19, tne sza-cernent :*,:I log ica l ly corresponds
wi Ln LKAC statement:
it wili uahe every o f l i c e r i.eei less secure in
nis /ner ,jobp bdif lg the s u e conrputation lnotnoa and
s t a u s ~ i c d an;llysrs as orr i t e m 18, i s becoues thus:
The abi;re&ia'ttt r'eayorrse i s interpreted as below with
uisper ti L c r u of answer s l i & m t l y more trmn tne l irst response.
TABLE X X I l 1 : Rtsnonse on Jab Securi ty with the New H-
Interpretation
-- -- The res t c f the data on the remaining items is
presented as below:
TAbls: X X I V : Anr.repte S s e s on i tems 20-24 - i
0
1.2
1.14
1.21
1.36
1.26
Interpretation
Agree
Undecided
Agree
Strongly Agree
Agree
e
Havirik presented and interpreted the dnta gn thered,
it would be necesuary to confirm the hypotheses 'generated
durin6 the course of this worko
( i ) xne f i r a t h y p o t h e s i s was:
"As a result o f bureaucratization, senior Prison
Olficers i n kinugu State Conunand perceive the reform o f
prison s e n i c e can succeed i n their cornandon
In oraer r;o conxlrm t h i s hypotheSl8, probing
questions were asked, 'Lhe aim was t o aetermlne the
a t t ~ t u d e of the senior officers towards tne re fom,
as regards whether they have fears of job insecurity
due to bureaucratization. AWO questions were relevant
on' th l s and cherw artb questlons l a and 19. As seen on
items I d und 19, the aggregate mean score on ltems
are 1 .8 and 2,j respectively which irrterpreta as r ~ g r e e *
(See 'l'hb.le UI),
habed on t m aggregate responses to these two
s tbtw .t-li LA with aean scores of 1.8 and 2.3 standard
devitction of 0.95 m d 1 2 6 respectively, one confirms
t r x f i r s t hypothesiso
b
( i i ) The second hypothesis s t a t e s :
n' l '~~e Nigerian Prison o f f i c e r s th ink the prison
reform is g o i r l ~ t o ensure good pe r fo r~u&nce /pos~ t ive
dlevclopment,"
k n y quest ions were asked t o a s ce r t a rn the senior
oi'licers a t LL tude towaras t h i s assumptiono Its@ 20-22
were asked and from the answers gathered, tne o r f r cc ro
t h i n k t h e reform w i l l ensure good performance and
pos i t i ve development., Over 70% of the respondents
in i t e w 22 bel ieve t h a t t h e reform w i l l b r ing about
excellent perfor~nancc of s t a f f and pr isoners ,
(iii) 'A'ne tnlrd hypothesis s t a t e s :
"'lne s e n l o r o f r ~ c e r s support I o r t he relorra
rs essential and symbolic f o r t n e hea l thy growth of
t r r t sarvlcc. 'l'he t n l r u hypotnesrs 1s derived rrorn t h e
I lrst two. An s ec t l on B, quest ion w a s asked t o the
o f f i c e r s t o know t h e i r b igges t problem facing t n e .
p r i s o n serv ice . About 45% of the rcspondents agreed
t h a t there arc excessive con t ro l from Federal Ministry
of I n t e r n a l Affairs, About 25% of t he respondents
answered t h a t i t was lack of motivation t h a t e f f e c t s
mo:; t;,
The l o g i c a l conclusion here, the re fo re , is t h a t
although the o f f i c e r s o r the bureaucrats th ink the reform
w i l l br ing about good administratLon and ensurk improved
p roduc t iv i ty o f s taff and inmateso
Ones assumption t h a t the support f o r the reform
is e s s e n t i a l and symbolic is the re fo re confirmed,
Se3 DISCUSSION OF FINDlNGS
The f indings art i n l i n e w i t h t h e basic assumptions
underlying the s tudy, The f ind ings are i n accordance
with un ive r sa l theor ie s of bureaucra t ic behaviour,
I n t h e first p lace , it has a l ready been proved
and upheld i n t h e hypothesis that c a r e e r o f f i c e r s i n t h e
p r i son service perceived the reform of p r i son s e r v i c e
can succeed i n t h e i r couernand. There is no f e a r i n t h e
r ecen t reform because it brought p o s i t i v e changes . in to
the Pr isons serv ice . The head o f t h e Nigeria Pr isons
Service was changed t o Contro l le r General of Pr i son
Service. The advantage i s the re fo re , hinged on t h e
f a c t t h a t t h e s e n i a r o f f i c e r s may be assessed, rewarded
and t r a n s f e r r e d t o o the r p r i son commands throughout
the Federation. The appointment o f t he p o s t of Contro l le r
G p e r a l of Pr ison Service is now c a r r i e d o u t by the
Head of S t a t e through the Minis ter of I n t e r n a l Affa i rs .
This ac t ion is a t yp i ca l bureaucra t ic one predic ted
i n the l i t e r a t u r e review, I n the s tudy by Naomi Lynn
and Richard Vaden (1980) conducted i n U . S . A . t o f i n d
out the reaction of c i v i l se rvan t s t o t he reforms i n
the Federal C i v i l Service, the execut ives had c x p r e s ~ e d
unreserved suspic ion and f e a r of over bureaucra t iza t ion
of the service . Th i s fear was predicated on l ack of
t r u s t and respec t f o r t h e leadership q u a l i t i e s of tha
p o l i t i c i a n .
P a r t of t n i s behaviour is a l s o explained by the
bureaucrats se l f - r ighteous attempt t o p r o t e c t what he
considers h i s n t e r r i t o r y w . Wriston (1980) tried t o dub
t h i s t h e Hse l f - i n t e r e s tn behaviour while Merton ( 1 ~ 4 0 )
c a l l e a i.t tne " e s y i r i t de corpsn Phenomenon. P r ice
a l s o p ~ s t u l a t c d on t h i s and c a l l e d i t the supremacy
of the "significant other .I1
, Ln tihe item 21 of t he research quest ionnaire , the
o f f i c e r s a ~ r t r d t h a t t h e reform w i l l ensure good
a d n i i n i s t r a t i ~ n and improve l i v iny . s tandard of staff and
iriuiates. T h i s behtrvioilr r e s t on the f a c t t h a t o f f i c e r s
choose w r m t tLiey f e e l is s u i t a b l e t o t h e i r s i t u a t i o n ,
Xt~~s*phenomenon is cons i s t en t w i t h the views of Katz
end Kahn t- lY7U) wno found o u t i n t h e i r s tudy that
bureaucra ts p t e n t e d t o a change does n o t mean they
hhve accepted the chage,
Un item 23 of the r e sea rch quest ion, IJsenior
prlson os'i'iceru should be allowed to p a r t i c i p a t e i n
declsion u k i n k on mat te rs r e l a t l n k t o pr i son8 oervicc
a t the a i n i s t e r i a l 1~0% ox the r e s p ~ n d e n t s
ayreed tnat officers m o u l d be part o f the decision
mavin6 on niattc1.s 1.olatiut: t o p r i sons and n o t a l lowing
o ~ l ~ . c i a l s i n n i r l i s t r y of A ~ r e r n a l kfrau's t o do so on
nneir , Lenb i f I
k l r i a i ~ y , now uucn suppor t do the offrcer'a give to I
tne reformc rlom w e conf i rua t ion 01 t h e t h i r d hypothesis
one cenc ludcd ' tha t t h e suppor t is e s s e n t i a l and
symbolic f o r the heal thy growth of the service. k h i l e
aany of the respondents f e e l t he reform w i l l be goodo
borne think i t would br ing about i r i s e c u r i t y , Lbis
response 1s I n consonance with t n e f i n d i n g s of Lynn
orla WaUcn, Toe i ropl icat ion 1s t h a t t h e o f ~ i c c r i want
the reform b u t reject the t o o much i n t e r f e r a n c e OX
people ou t s ide the pr ison service i n i ts o p e r a t i o r n o
-
wnat ao the f i n d l n ~ s imply f o r the success fu l
implenentat icjr, zf t h e reform?
The f i r s t implicat ion appears t o be t h e f a c t t h a t
the s u y p ~ r t rur . L K A ~ rexorm by the Senior Of f i ce r s is
necessary f o r the opera t ions of Nigerian Pr isons Service,
A s a r t s u l t of the support , t he o f f i c e r s o r e committed
t o t h e successfu l implementation of t h e reforu-,
fhough as e governmental po l i cy , the o f f i c e r s
o r bureaucrats may have s i l e n t r e s i s t i m w 'LO L I L ~
implementation of t h e reform. This not withstanding, the
o f S x e r s own LZ as t n e i r na t iona l duty t o implement . t he reflsr~u i n t n e l r pr i sons command. Thus Francis
Kourkc i n his works on bureaucracy, Politics ana Publ lc
Pol icy ( 1962) p u ~ lt bureaucrats undermine t h e implemen-
t a t i o n of some govermenta l p o l i c i e s t'mt ore wi th in
t h e i r reach.
Usually, hurnan'beings opera t ing under publ ic
organiza t ions have c o n f l i c t s that @ r i s e from mutual -
suspcio& wi th in the organizat ion. As al ready revealed
i n the research , Pr i son o f f i c e r s consider e x c ~ s s i v s
con t ro l f r o e Ministry of I n t e r n a l A f f a i r s and inadequate
f inancing the b igdes t probleus i n the pr i sons se rv ic to I
Therefore, one can r i g h t l y p r ed i c t incessant c o n f l i c t s
and clash of i n t e r e s t s i n execution of dut ies* This
problem dill not be on the i n t e r e s t of t he pr isoners
and tnn reformation po l icy o f the Federal Goverment.
The pri~nilry aim of pr ison reform is t o be achieved
if the per iod o f iaprisonrnent i s used t o ensure t h a t
upon t h e j r r e tu rn t o the wider soc ie ty , pr isoners a r e
able t o l i v e a law-abiding and self-support ing l i f e .
To t h i s end, pr ison i n s tu tu t i on should u t i l i s e a l l .
the remedial, educat ional , m o r a 1 , s p i r i t u a l and
other forces/forms of ass i s t ance which a r e appropr ia te
according t o the individual t reatment needs of t h e
prisoners. The pr ison o f f i c e r s have t o reform the
pr isoners by gooa exanisle, inculca t ing i n them the
hab i t of good 'conduct and industry. This part ' icular
tendenqy, i f it does n o t manifest f u l l y , may have.
di,astrous impact m t h e gains already made i n t he
pr ison system i n lligerio,, -
'I . K, Likert, "A technique f o r Measurement of A t t i t u d e s n qu6ted i n Go Lindsay e t al,
Handb f S P VOL.II , 2nd ed. ~Oc%$~E?8%68, pp.205-209.
2. i.1. Thurstone. Me urement of Vca (Chicago: ' h d v e r s i t y of C h e o Press 1974), p. 68.
3. Michael J, Wriston, " In Defence of Bureaucrat Public Administration Review. vo1 .m, 80. 2 (filarch/April, 1980). pa 1830
4( Wobert, M. Price . Societv and Bureaucracy i n C n t Ghana. Befkely: Universi ty -;:a (1975 pp-. 23-40).
IJ. Katz & K.1. K m , Soc ia l Psychology of Organization (New York: John Wiley & sons 1978). p. 771.
6, Ladipo Ademolekun. Publ ic A d o r i n i s t r a t i ~ n ~ . Nigerian and Cosparative Perspect ive (Lagos, Lonwan 1983) . .
7. h . i . Nwosu. P o l i t i c a l Authori ty and ~ i ~ e r i a n C i v i l Service (Bnugu. Fourth Dimension Publ i shers , 1977)
I n order t o do j u s t i c e t o t h i s study, the r e sea rch
found it imperative t o t r a c e t h e pa th of h i s t o r y of
the evolu t ion of the Nigerian Pr isons Service , analysed
the s t r u c t u r e o f the present reform; probed i n t o the
bureaucrat ic pe r sona l i ty , and drew inference from
s t a t i s t i c a l d a t a gathered on the issue.
The t h e o r e t i c a l framework was i n s p i r e d by t h e
monuraental work of Daniel Katz and Robert Kahn, Robert
Merton and others . The systems approach formed t h e b a s i s
of the t h e o r e t i c a l frame-work. The review of l i t e r a t u r e -
, . a l s o flowed from t h i s Framework. The review of
' l i t e r a t u r e made the i s s u e more f a m i l i a r and b a s i s
e s t ab l i shed from pos t s t u d i e s c a r r i e d out. The
synopsis i s t h a t bureaucrats do, indeed, r e a c t t o
change i n t h e i r p lace of work. This response, is
always s e l c t i v e and guided by s e l f - i n t e r e s t and o the r
f a c t o r s which determine whether t h e reform wo\ild
be r e s i s t e d . modified o r accepted.
The hypotheses were based on these assumptions
As a r e s u l t of bureaucra t iza t ion , s en io r
pr i son o f f i ce r8 i n Lnugu S h t v Command
perceive t h e reform of pr ison se rv ice can
succeed i n t h e i r Command.
Senior Prison Off icers fhink t he reform
is going t o ensure good pe r f~ rma .nce /~os i t i ve
development.
~ h ; o f f i c e r s support f o r t he re fo ru a r e
e s s e n t i a l and oymbolic f o r the heal thy
growth of the se rv ice*
ana lys i s of t h i s reform i n Prisona s e rv i ce
mate r i a l s from the past proposed l e g i s l a t i o n s
and doculnents on the matter. The r a t i o n a l e , which i@
t o br ing improvement and development i n the Nigeria
Penal System were examined.
The ana lys i s of the pr isons bureaucrat and
behavioural p a t t e r n is booed on the pos tu l a t i on that
h i s proximity t o the pr isoners has turned him i n t o a
sped ia l breed of b~reaucr ta ts . The ecology of
administrat ion i n a mpr ismat ic and t r an sp l an tn i n s t i t u -
t ion , has sharpened h i s a t t i t u d e s , behaviour and ways
of +sscssing things, .
In makin& the following recommendations, the
researcher used findings of th i s study ac a basis.
The major problem i n the implementation of the
reform is lack of trust between the prison bureaucrats
and the oEficfals of Piinistry o f Internal Affairs.
What i~ needed here, therefore i s the inculcation
of the right attitudes i n the two actor*. Acc~rding
to Hobec t Pierton (1960) , the success of any -bureaucratic
organizn+.ion depends on minfusine the* .. z 4 t ,
p a r t i c i y a i ~ s x ~ t h apylopr ikte at t l tuaes and sentiruentsla,
i r ~ f u s i n g oi ~1:f' ~ ' l k t ~ l ; O ~ L ~ L U U Q S B ~ A O U A U t & k e ttle followLrlg
forms :
(i) kegular semrrmrs organized to educate the
operative on their- proper; roles i n the reform,
( i i ) S t r i c t oaherenw to the rules and regulat ione
~ u i c l i ng t i d e prikonu serv ice .
i i i i ) ' ine use of o b j e c t i v i t y as a main too l i n
uatt.rr?; t .ouching on rehabil i tation of prieoners,
Aiv) An oraer tp achieve unxiuum reformation and
r t . n a ~ 1 . 1 ~ t . c ~ t l o n o f prieon imhrtea, there should
6 be an u f r e c t i v e classrfieation of prisoners,,
jv) 'iriu c l v ~ l o e r v l c e ruiefi snouid D e uod~fied t o
t.wtlc. ex-COLV LC tb win g v m f u l employments i n
ootr1 t r ~ e p r i v a t e arm p u o i i c stsctors of Abiger~wn
econouy*
(YL) *fie iteaeral ru*inietry ci internal Affairs which
fob terh t r w p r i s o n s iliorrg WJ. t r r severd o t k r - U e L d L LLCXALS is f iar coo bi6 to warrunL any effect ive
aauiure tr'crtive con Lrol and insurance of ef f'iciency.
&here i a brgens neea for establishment of Priaon
berv2 c.c- Com~issioa is h i g h l y recom~cncira lor.
t i i e c t i v e p r u . o n ruSormo i n e priaon officers
YCLOJIC. ee ~ ~ i c r w c i c ? LO c u n L r u l tue affairs of
~ ' L S O D S uariegtc~t-r~t 1x1 ~k~gtfria.
4 0 Uk?rizons" brecd"Criminals" in the Nigerian . Tribune, Awlarch 30th. 1983, bock page, .
5. Onyebuchi, F.1. Hestructuring the Pri~on S stem in Nigeria, A paper for the Y Wlgerian Law Heform Comnrission, Lagos; 5't.b. 9 - 11, 1362.
Adrbayo, A. P Pdministration in _I?$er a. S p e c t r w ~ f t d ~ b " a d a n ,
I - yp. 22-27. AWV. 1484~
E+imofOr, ir .U . -A i&nia l Ub.~ect ivrs ana EolicLes &&-.a,: irie noots of Conflict. Onitsha: Africana k L Y rub. L t d . 15!70
r aris, h a -~_P=-U. lhew 'Y ork: Matiraw-Hill, 19370
Ktatz b., kahn K. 'the b ~ ~ s y c h o ~ o m of New York, John Wiley & Sons, 19
Labovi tz , banford : &ttud,uct ior~ _tO Social hesearch, 2nd ed, New York: A W r a w - H i l l book Co., 1976,
b
AUWOSU, h . N , h~&t; lc .a l k u ' l ; h o y - g & & P : s r i w Servicet. Lnugu; Fourth Dimension Publishers, 197'7
Osuala, L,C . Int.rgcuction t o H search Methodo&=, ~ n i t s b a : ~ f e d . , 1982, .
Price, ktobcrt Pi. Soci.& and buresucrgicy i n ~ o n t e m ~ m , Ghanao Berkeley: University of California - Press, 1975.
hourkt, E'.o, bur"- . . Boston: L i t t l e
Am& Sola, Mkiurraucratic Corruption i n Nigeria. The Searcn for' causes and cures. International deview o f kdmi nistrativle Sciences, XLVIII LAO, 1 m32). ,
-~
Wriston, hichacl , J . " I n befence of Eiu~~eaucracy~~ . PubJic Adrnini~~ration H e v i a , 4.0, April 7980. -
A 1 1 Baha, llYrf~or: Overflown i n the National Concord: w v , 29th, 1982 f r o n t page.
i 'wod i , F.0, "Imprcve PrisonS Conditionsn i n t h e Daily Star, August 37st, 7984 back page,
Okugole, M,I, " I n Search o f a viable aftercare policy f o r ex-convicts in Nigeria ,,I1
Sub- De ar tment of 1 Pub l i c drn in is t ra t ion and Local Government,
Univers i ty o f lvigeria, Nsukks.
bear He$pondent,
I airl a Post-graduate s t u d e n t i n t h e Sub-Departnent
of Publ ic k % n i n i s t r a t i o n and Local Government, University
o~ higerira, Nsukka, This ques t ionna i r e is aimed a t
e l i c i t i n g i n f o r u a t i o n from s e n i o r p r i s o n o f f i c e r s on t h e
refo1.m of' h ~ g e r i a i ~ Prisons, T h i s is pu re ly f o r academic
purposes.
K i r ~ d l y answer the fo l lowing ques t ions according t o
your own convic t ions as t h e v a l i d i t y of t h i s e x e r c i s e w i l l
larbely uryend or1 how t r u t h f u l l y t h e q u e s t i o n s are answered. I
The answers .you give w i l l r i o t be i d e n t i f i e d w i t h you. per sona l ly I as 1 au o n l y i ~ i t e r e s t e d i n the aggregate responses t o
pa r t i cuLar ques t ious , A l l you nedd t o do is t o t i c k I
i,/) in t he appropriate box o r f i l l i n some d e t a i l s as
may oc requi red .
Your co-aperat ion is highly apprec ia ted ,
Yours f a i t h f u l l y
(ii) D3P 1-1 20 Hank: (i) A s P - / 7
(vi) DCP /-7'
4. Sex: (i) Male / ( i l l Female 1-1
5. Aeligion: (i) Christianity 1-/' (ii) Islam [-/ ( ii L) Others /-/(please specify). . . . . . . . . . . . .
6. Educational Background:
(i) Cdmpleted Prinary School f-/ I
(ii)
(iii) University d e g r e e / ~ ~ / 1 4 ~ ~ / ~ i p l o r n a /--/ , I
(iv) Post-graduate qualification 1-1 7 . How long have you been in the Prisons Service?
I
( i ) Less than 10 years 1- (ii) 11 - 20 years
.(iii) 21 - 35 years f zz 8. Location: (i) Enugu Prison /-/
(ii) State Hqs. Office [-7 .
<
A P k ~ i l b l A C U l V l ' ~ . r
SLC'I'ION B i I
9 How were you r e c r u i t e d i n the Pr ison Service? I I
( i) I'nrougn w r i t t a n / o r a l competit ive exam, L - 7 ,
( i i ) Tnrougn Federal Service. Co l~ l i s s ion a ,
( i i i ) fhrough Transfer of Service
Uo you consider t h e per iod you have spen t i n t h e P r i son Service worthwhile erna rewarding?
Why is i t so? Give d e t a i l s on your above
Would you encourage your son o r daughter is he/skle decides t o make a ca ree r i n the Pr isons Service?
(i) Yes / ( i i ) Not q u i t e /T (iii) Absolutely Not I-/ Many people consider Prison o f f i c e r s t o be r i g i d , ignorant , corx*upt and wicked, How far do you th ink t h i s assessment is c o r r e c t ?
14. Why do you think so? (Please give d e t a i l s ) :
15. What do you th ink is t h e Pr isons Service b igges t robl lea? ( lnadrqua'te f inancing j7
( i i ) Excessive c o n t r o l from M o 1 . A . /- ( i i i ) Lack of motivation 1-
( i v ) Late payment of salary/-/ -
U P f h N b l X CONI'U . I
SLCTION I3 1
r i
Y e HOW were you r e c r u i t e d i n the Pr ison Service? I
( i) 'I'hrougn wr*i t ten/oral competit ive exam. I7 ( i i ) Tnrougn Federal Service. Co l~ l i s s ion
( i i i ) 'rhrough Transfer of Service
( i v ) o t h e r s Lz (please ~ p e c i f y ) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... , l o * Uo you consider the per iod you have spen t i n t h e P r i son
Service worthwhile m a rewarding? I
11, Why is i t so? Give d e t a i l s on your above
12, Would you encourage your son o r daughter is he/shc decides t o make a ca ree r i n the Pr isons Service?
(i) Yes / ( i i ) Not q u i t c /-/ ( i i i ) Absolutely Not 1-1
13, h n y people consider Prison o f f i c e r s t o be r i g i d , ignorant , '
cor rup t and wicked, How f u r do yuu th ink t h i s asuesauient I
is c o r r e c t ?
( i ) Very t r u e 1- ( i i ) T r u e t o some e x t e n t I-/ ( i i i ) h o t t r u e L t a l l /-1
14. Why cjo you thirdt so? (p lease give d e t a i l s ) :
--I -
15, What do you th ink is t h e Pr isons Service b igges t
( I ) h a d e q u a t e f inancing
( i i ) Excessive con t ro l from M.1.A. 1-1 . ( i i i ) Lack of motivation 1-/
- -
problem?
16, Bow much do you know about the Prisons reform? . ti) A l o t / ( i i \ ~ o t much - j
( i i i ) hoth ing a t all 1-1 '
l T O Do you think the prisoners: (i) Yes
( i i i) Absolutely Not 6227
78,rrou wnaz L know aoouL tbe
23 Senior Prison Off icers should be allow*d to parti - cipate i n dec i s ion making on matters r e l a t i n g t o prisons serv ice a t the
do y o 3 LA ~ : - k t ' l . l t , ,!:r standard of food upp ply,