ART EDUCATION AS A FACTOR FOR EMPOWERMENT OF INMATES OF MAKURDI PRISON BENUE STATE NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Prison evolved as an institution for punishing those who offend society. Brutality and other forms of inhuman  treatment  were associated  with prison, but as from  the 19th Century AD beginning with England, prison started becoming human resource recovery

institutions  that  retrain  errant  to  become  good  citizens  on  release.  The  perennial problem of recidivism in the Nigerian prison system over the decades calls for concern from the public. Studies found most inmates to be semi-literate individuals who do not acquire   any  handiwork   and   have   not   been   trained   in   any  trade   before   their imprisonment; such inmates find it difficult to adjust into the society on release.  This study  therefore  evaluates  inmates’  achievements  in  art  education  as  an  attempt  to empower inmates with skills to live self-sustainable lives after release. 40 out of 122 inmates were selected  (representing 32.7% sample size) using interest (simple random sampling technique).  Inmates participated in the ten weeks ex post facto method, data was collected in form of art test scores from male inmates of Makurdi Medium Security Prison,  Benue  State-Nigeria.  Descriptive  statistics  and  t-test  were  used  to  analyze  the quantitative data while the data collected through observation were analyzed qualitatively.  The study revealed on the average that the level of prisoners’ achievement in learning art was high. There was a significant difference in the study of art education in prison setting. Inmates’ performance in Information Communication  Technology was poor due to low level education and inmates who had shorter discharge dates showed laxity and lacked concentration,  as they saw no need to learn anything new.

CHAPTER ONE

1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

Every society in history is believed to have evolved or enacted some aspect of rules which it expects its citizens to obey. When these laws are disobeyed, society used different methods of corrections to reprimand such erring members. These methods of corrections in the time past, ranged from sending offenders on exile, lashing them and confiscation of their properties to mention but a few.

The initial records of prison came from Mesopotamia  and Egypt from the 1st  Millennium BC. During those times,  prisons  were often constructed  in underground  dungeons  where guilty or suspected criminals spent their lives either awaiting death penalty or a command from the authority to become slaves. With the emergence of modern civilization around the

3rd Millennium BC, almost every major ancient civilization adopted concept of prisons as means to detain and remove personal freedom of incarcerated people. In those early periods in history, prisons were often used as temporary stop-gap before sentencing such prisoners to death or misery  life of slavery.    It was  only in Greece  that  prisoners  were  not  held  in dungeons but rather in poorly isolated buildings, where their families and friends could visit them.  In  ancient  Rome,  prisons  were  built  exclusively   underground   with  tight  and claustrophobic passages and cells. Prisoners were heavily used by the Roman government in the past as support workforce sometimes called the Gladiators or Ludus (Prison, 2010).

As  time  passed,  prisons  started  morphing  into  correctional  institutions  that  began  to implement  the  concept  of rehabilitation  and  reform of prisoners.  In Europe,  the  English royalty,  Henry II, commissioned  the first prison in 1166 AD, when he  noticed  the harsh conditions of prisoners. He also went ahead to draft the first English legal system that used

the concept of judges to determine cases. Prison History (2013) noted that by 1215 AD, King John  signed  ‘Magna  Carta’,  a  prison  legislation,  which  stated  that  no  man  could  be imprisoned without trial. This historic event marked the turning point in prison history world- wide as modern prisons started reforms in line with the English standard.  Egu (1990, p.4) observe that ‘‘emphasis at this period was shifted to improvement of the prisoners’ lot’’. The world-wide humanizing attitude towards prisoners also started at this time, and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for crime prevention and treatment of offenders adopted in

1955 also influenced many countries towards this new direction. Prison (2010) in their assertion warned that;

As an aspect of human rights… people who are  imprisoned do not cease to be human beings,  no  matter  how  serious  the  associated  crime.  This  is  in  line   with  the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 10, which stated that all persons deprived of their liberty, shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person… (Prison, 2010)

Human  Rights  group  have  already  assumed   that,  the  deprivation  of  personal   liberty (imprisonment)   is  the  operative  punishment  and  that;  it  should  not  be  augmented  by unnecessarily restrictive conditions in the name of secure custody.

Imprisonment   as  a  form  of  punishing  offenders  was  not  new  to  many  pre-colonial communities in Africa. In Nigeria, different communities had their own legitimate methods of dealing with deviant members of their societies. Egu (1990) observed that Ogboni Kose among the Yoruba states, Ewedos in the Bini Kingdom, Yaris in the Fulani Caliphate showed evidence of functional equivalents of prisons before the modern era.

The establishment of Broad Street Prison, Lagos in 1872, marked the beginning of modern prison system in Nigeria. The progressive British penetration into every nook and cranny of Nigeria brought many prison establishments; the aim at that time was to deal with any one opposing the British rule and interest. According to Orakwe (2012) the colonial prison at that stage was not designed to reform anyone. Instead, prisoners were in the main, used for public works  and other  menial  jobs for the colonial  administration  which lacked  personnel.  He maintained that prisons were poorly run, and that the local prison conditions varied from one place to another in disorganization, callousness and exploitation of their inmates. The result was  that  the  prisons  served  the  purpose  of  punishing  those  who  had  the  guts  to  be  in opposition against the colonial administration. The prisons were also used as a warning signal to those who might want to cause trouble for the British colonial government.

The prison regulation of 1917 did not specify any particular type of treatment of the inmates; it   merely   represented   policy   statements.   Mr.   R.   H.   Dolan,   an   experienced   prison administrator, was appointed Director of the Nigerian Prisons Service in 1946. He initiated revolutionary changes in the Nigerian prisons which includes Vocational Training in 1949 as a cardinal part of a penal treatment in Nigeria. He also launched the introduction of Moral and Adult Educational classes (Orakwe, 2012).

Prison Legislation – Decree No. 9 of 1972 and Laws of the Federation-Prisons  Act  CAP

366 of 1990 spelt out the goals of the Nigerian Prisons Service as taking custody of those legally detained; identifying causes of their behaviour and retraining them to become useful citizens in the society; as well as generating revenue for the government. Even though, the decree makes secure custody of the inmates the first role of the  prisons,  Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS, 2013) note that reform and rehabilitation are the ultimate aims of the Nigerian

Prisons Service. Olusina, (2013) found that as laudable as the cardinal objectives of the NPS

reform agenda are, they were far from the reality on the ground.

In  spite  of  the  influence  of  the  reformation,  rehabilitation  and  correctional  programmes initiated in the Nigeria Prisons Service since 1917, which became operational in 1949 to date, Tanimu (2010, p.150) aptly observed that ‘‘the current facilities and  programmmes  of the prison are outdated, unsuitable, and irrelevant to the declared reformative and rehabilitative ideals’’.

Santos (2010, p.14) amplified that ‘‘once in the system, prisoners have few opportunities to improve their lives…it lacks a mechanism that would inspire prisoners’’ to get empowered and to get genuine rehabilitation.  Chukwumerije  (2012)  in his presentation  of Prison Act Amendment Bill 2012 at the National Assembly,  Abuja, contended that the Prison Act was outdated, unable to define the purposes  of  imprisonment,  silent on the crucial service  of

reformation/rehabilitation   and  archaic  in  its  concept  of  revenue  mobilization.  The  2nd

Biennial Conference held in Kampala, Uganda, in 2013, the Heads of African Corrections Services  Association  – ACSA  (2013) in a communiqué  at the end of  their  meeting also acknowledged  the deficiencies  in existing  rehabilitation  programmes  in Africa,  including Nigeria.

According to Tanimu, (2010, p.143), ‘‘A typical inmate in Nigerian prison is a semi-literate male, in the prime of his youth, occupationally; he is either unemployed or an apprentice in the  lowest  occupational  ladder’’.  Some  of  the  inmates  hardly   write  nor  understand instructions in English well. A study by the New York Senate also uphold these views that the majority of state prisoners have no high school diploma and a large proportion of them are unable to read… many of the Max security prisons in the US are populated with males with little or very few employable skills (Questia, 2013).

Several studies (Obiandu, 2013; Omale, 2011; Orakwe, 2010; Santos, 2010, & Tanimu, 2010) have demonstrated that there is need to provide for more functional and adequate educational and  occupational  facilities  and  programmes  in our prisons.  Only recently,  the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – CDCR, 2007), released a working document after assessing its prisons, which partly state:

Rehabilitation  has become  the operative course in the departments  goal of  reducing recidivism … and that incarcerating inmates with the out dated practices of the past has become untenable considering the realities of the present. We are looking at many new and innovative options to provide programs for inmates.

The Reformer Magazine in 2013 noted that the time was ripe to push for the reform of the prison in order to create a prison system that was consistent with the democratic aspirations of the new Nigeria, ‘‘in line with the global shift from the philosophy of punishment in prisons to that of corrections’’ (Chukwuneke, 2012, p.22).

Gussak  (1997)  looked  at the prison system  and  opined  that  there  seems  to  be  a  natural tendency for artistic and creative expressions in prison setting.  The arts have been part of life from the very beginning. Glastonbury Schools’ (2013) observed that the arts have described, defined, and deepened human experiences. People of all races and periods in history have an abiding need for meaning. Who am I? What must I do? Where am I going? Simultaneously, the arts initiate change, challenge old perspectives from fresh angles of vision. Arts also offer unique interpretations of familiar ideas. The arts link hope to memory inspiring courage and making our tragedies bearable.

Art activity can be the perfect vehicle for revealing the complexities of the human condition especially those in incarceration.  Guardian Art and Design (2007, p.5) programme alleged

that art and creative activity is underestimated  in mainstream  prison life. Yet can so  often provide  the key to  a better  way of thinking.  Gussak  and  Virshup  (1997)  carried  out an investigation on art therapy and highlighted the following as benefits to inmates:

Taking advantage of creativity inherent in the prison society

Preventing diversion and escape

Promoting inadvertent unconsciousness disclosure

By passing rigid defences including pervasive dishonesty.

Gussak (2004) also claimed that art therapy helps to alleviate mental health issues that  are exacerbated in such unhealthy environments. Prison friendly countries like Canada, Britain, Australia etc. all used art education as cardinal part of their penal treatment in reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration which has taken them to where they are today. Allison (2000) strongly urged that the first step we must take is to change the function; operation and reality of what correctional institutions represent; corrections must become human resource recovery system.   According to the Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2012), the revised 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum address Cultural & Creative Arts amongst other things ‘‘poverty eradication, human rights education, entrepreneurship  and life skills and innovation… from primary schools to  junior secondary school levels’’ (FME,   2012). All these are efforts to consolidate the study of Visual arts, Painting & Décor, Dying & Bleaching, Photography and Craft practice at the senior secondary school level in Nigeria as a way of skill acquisition and fighting perennial unemployment  in the country.  Why has Nigerian  government  suddenly become  conscious  of  art  education  being  a  catalyst  for  empowerment   and  tackling unemployment in the country? The answer may not be farfetched; Art education is a means of assisting personal growth and development in skill acquisition and discipline. Researchers have written much about the prison rehabilitation, but no known work has really addressed

Art Education as a factor for empowerment of inmates in Nigerian prison.

Asokhia and Agbonluae  (2013, p.226) opined that ‘’there is no better way to help  prison inmates re-enter the larger society successfully and break the in-and-out of jail cycle than provide  them  with skills  that  they need  to succeed  in the outside  world’’.  Grant  (2006) suggested two main goals for teaching art in prisons; teach skills and  discipline as well as developing a creative outlet for personal expressions other than violence. In some advanced nations like Australia, Britain and USA, vocational and creative arts have been found to be very successful in prison settings in preventing idleness, empowering inmates in ways that are self-sustainable as seen during anniversary prison art exhibitions, national art galleries or prison art projects in communities of such countries. It is on the premise of the forgoing that this study was conducted to test the efficacy of learning art by inmates in the Nigerian Prison system using ex post facto and participant observer model. It is this same humane reasoning and  action that brought about improvements  in prison, beginning from England and other nations,  philanthropic  organizations  and well meaning individuals  all over the world  that culminated into the human face which the prison system started wearing today.

1.2.     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

Some prisoners do not have any handiwork and have not been trained in any trade  before their imprisonment. Such people find it difficult to re-integrate into the society after serving their prison sentences. Studies by Tanimu, 2010 and Omale, 2011 have  confirmed that, an average inmate in the Nigerian Prison is a semi-literate  youth  without a work place skill. There is therefore, need to train prison inmates in different trades and crafts of the arts to enable them live a productive life after serving their prison sentences so that re-integration

with  the  larger  society  will  no  longer  be  a challenge,  therefore  recidivism  will  become minimal.

1.3.     PURPOSE OF THE STUDY:

The study seeks to:

1.        Investigate the level of prisoners’ achievement in learning art.

2.        Test the abilities of inmates in the pre-test and post-test to see if there is a significant difference in learning art.

3.        Investigate the difficulties inmates encounter in learning art.

1.4.     RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

What is the level of prison inmates’ achievement in learning art?

Is there any significant difference in learning art by prison inmates? What are the difficulties prison inmates’ encounters in learning art?

1.5.      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

Education generally has the main goal of preparing an individual to be useful to himself and his  society.  Vocational  education  on  the  other  hand  is  ‘‘any  form  of  training  which specifically furnishes an individual with some practical skills to perform his chosen career’’ (Denga,  1990,  p.3).  Art  education  as  a  vocational  field  enables  the  learner  to  explore alternative ways of communicating with others. The study will:

–           Benefit the inmates by generating more meaningful and purposeful activities in prison thereby,  preventing  general  idleness.  It will also  equip  the inmates  with  requisite

skills that will empower and help them afterwards into the society. By this, recidivism of inmates will be at low ebb.

–           Ginger Prison Authority and Government to evaluate the current prison educational and vocational units for better results.

–           Make prison staff aware that secured walls do not give maximum security, but art programme which engages the mind and the hand more purposeful does.

–           Benefit the general public by receiving disciplined and skilful inmates on discharge, thereby experiencing more peace and less crime in the society.

1.6.     SCOPE AND LIMITATION TO THE STUDY:

The study concentrated in Medium Security Prison, Makurdi, Benue State of Nigeria.  The justification for this institution was that, the inmates share similar attributes in terms of adult age (19 – 49 years), male sex, physical and social environment. The researcher was limited to include the Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) who are legally excluded from any rehabilitation treatment  in Nigeria  prisons.  That Awaiting  Trial Persons  are not  prisoners  yet, they are ATPs in prison custody (Laws of the Federation-Prisons Act CAP 366, 1990; Decree No. 9,

1972;  and  Ibrahim,  2013).    It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that,  prison  is  a  volatile  security environment, therefore only one prison was considered for this study at this level.

1.7.     KEY WORDS:

REHABILITATION  is the restoration to useful life of a person sentenced to a prison term. Questia (2013) observed that inmates are not permanently criminal and that it is possible to restore them to a life in which they will contribute to themselves and to the society and to society around them. Ahire (1990) also referred to empowerment and rehabilitation to mean post release efforts made to make it  easier for the offender to resettle in society.

INMATE also called prisoner is a legal term used to describe someone who is sent to prison on conviction or on remand using the legal procedure.

PRISON is a place in which people are physically confined and usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms.  It may also refer to a place of confinement or captivity. Prisons could be used to house both convicted and suspected criminals.

ART  EDUCATION  is  a  means  of  assisting  personal  growth  and  development  in  skill acquisition  and  discipline,  and  is especially pertinent  to  those  who  offend.  Djurichkovic (2011)  said  that  there  is  value  in  learning  art  in  prison  for  educating,  improving  and reforming individuals.

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