PREVALENCE AND CAUSES OF RECIDIVISM IN KADUNA AND ZARIA PRISONS

ABSTRACT

The philosophy of prison has changed from that which serves as punishment centre to that which emphasises on rehabilitating and reforming the offender with the aid of laid down programs that aim at helping in proper transformation. Despite this ideological background, it is surprising that the rate of recidivism over the years is on a steady increase. This study therefore sought to understand the Prevalence and Causes of recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons. The objectives of this study are; examining the nature of the reformative and rehabilitative programs in Kaduna and Zaria prisons, examining the effectiveness of correctional facilities and programs in Kaduna and Zaria prisons, identifying the causes of recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons, assessing the challenges faced by staff and inmates of Kaduna and Zaria prisons and finally proffering solutions that will help reduce the rate of recidivism. In order to achieve these stated objectives, Qualitative and Quantitative data were collected. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaire, while the qualitative data, through in-depth interviews. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants. A sample of 80 inmates was selected using purposive sampling technique. The quantitative data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency while the qualitative data was transcribed and used in triangulation. Inspite of philosophical change in correction, the study found out that there is high rate of recidivism due to the following causes; poor infrastructures in Kaduna and Zaria prisons, inadequate and obsolete correctional measures in Kaduna and Zaria prisons, poverty, unemployment, peer group influence, low educational qualification, length of first sentence, Prisonization, lack of visits by loved ones, stigmatization, lack of proper reintegration exercise and finally, habitual criminality. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made; The provision of modern and adequate correctional facilities in Nigerian prisons, The Nigerian Prison Service should liaise with businesses for employment opportunities, specifically for ex-offenders, Family members should be encouraged to become more involved in the reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration process, Public awareness of the impact of stigmatization on ex-offenders should be a program hosted regularly and finally, Adequate employment of competent prison staff should be done by the Federal Government.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

As long as there have been people, there has been crime. The history of crime is in many ways the history of humanity. There is hardly any society which is without the problem of crime. According to Durkheim (1897),as cited inSiddique (2004), a society composed of persons with angelic qualities would not be free from violations of the norms of the society. Therefore, crime is present in every society. According to Tappan (1960),crime is an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law, committed without defense or justification, and sanctioned by the law as felony or misdemeanor. Similarly,Sutherland (1978), crime is a symptom of social disorganization. Therefore, crime can be said to be an act which a particular group regards as sufficiently harmful to its fundamental interests, to justify legal action to restrain the violator. Since concern about crime is not a recent phenomenon, it is indeed of no surprise that enormous energy has been directedto the goal of effective crime control.

Based on the inevitability of crime in the society, varieties of responses to crime like the family, schools, organized religions, the media, the law and the criminal justice system are institutions of social control. Various governments have put in place agencies whose mission is to identify and apprehend criminal suspects, providing them with fair hearing on the charges brought against them, and through the course of trials if found guilty as charged, furnishing them with fair and effective correctional treatment. These processes itself is referred to as the Criminal Justice System.

According to Larry and Joseph (2008), Criminal Justice System can be defined as agencies put in place by the government charged with enforcing the law, adjudicating crime, and correcting criminal conduct. According toDambazau (2007),the Criminal Justice System is a legal entity, the interrelationships of criminal justice elements comprising of the police, courts and the prisons. The Nigerian police as an agent of the Criminal Justice System, are the biggest, most visible and important sub-system of the Criminal Justice System. The police provide the entry point into the criminal justice system either through crime reports from the public or its own discovery. According to Dambazau (2007), the police organization is the main institution which provides regular direct contact with the public, a situation that makes it unique among the other component of the Criminal Justice System. The role of the police is unique in that, the decision of the policeman on the street is as important as the existence of the Criminal Justice System. According to Dambazau (2007), the policeman is the gatekeeper of the Criminal Justice System as he decides who goes into the system, and his decision has wider implications from the other system components. The police man lubricates the system through the process of arrest, which is essentially their input into the Criminal Justice System. In the administration of justice, the courts take over from where the police stop. According to Igbo (1999), the court performs a vital function in the administration of criminal justice; they interpret and enforce laws that have been enacted by the legislature for the maintenance of law and order in the society. When a suspect has been found guilty of violating a particular criminal law, the court decides whether to caution and discharge, impose a monetary fine or to sentence the suspect to a term of imprisonment. However, whatever the court decides depends largely on the seriousness of the offence in question. According to Dambazau (2007),a court can be defined as an agency set up by government to define and apply the law, to order its enforcement, and to settle disputed points on which individuals or groups do not agree. Criminal courts play a vital role in the Criminal Justice System. The last tier of the Criminal Justice System is the prison. According to Dambazau (2007),in the triangular relationship of the Criminal Justice System, the third tier carries the prison which is responsible for the custody of the final product of the criminal justice process. In maintenance of custody, it involves the prevention of escapes, which include erecting high walls or chain link fences, placing armed guards, constant checks of cells, providing a system of passes for movements within the prison, constant surveillance, and such stringent measures which may be applied from time to time to prevent escapes, riots etc. According toIgbo (1999),throughout recorded history, societies have imposed various kinds of punishments on their recalcitrant members either to deliberately cause them pain, or to have them change from their anti-social and unacceptable ways. According to Gibbons (1973), punishment involves pain or suffering produced by design and inflicted on a member of a group by that group or that society in its capacity. Punishment is the price paid for non-conformity to the expected and prescribed standards of a group or society. It is pain, suffering or deprivation imposed by a group or society on those who have disobeyed or violated the group laws. In the view of Thomas and Hepburn (1983),it is a consequence of some culpable or inaction previously defined by law as a crime that person faces some lawfully imposed pain, suffering, or loss of otherwise available rights. Criminologists, correctional officials, and other social scientists have at one time or the other attempted to explain the rationale and justification for and the efficacy of punishment. Gibbons (1973), provides a summary of the aims of punishment to include retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and reformation. Apart from the philosophy that lays more emphasis on deterrence and retribution there is a correctional philosophy which emphasises more on reformation and rehabilitation ideals of the prison. According to Tanimu (2010),many claims of reformation and rehabilitation are made without a sufficientunderstanding of the concepts.Reformation refers to measures calculated to impact moral improvement in a person’s character so that he will be less inclined to re- offends in the future. Rehabilitation refersto post Release efforts made to make it easier for the offender to resettle in society(Ahire, 1990). Various programmes are put in place in the prison to achieve proper reformation and rehabilitation of inmates. According to Gulleng (2012),these intervention programs involve psychological, educational and vocational skills which inmates are subjected to as a form of educating the soul to be reintegrated back to the society. Section 58 of the standard minimum rule of prisons as cited by civil liberties organization (1996:58) argues that imprisonment can perform its purpose of protecting the society against crime and thus be justified. The imprisonment of the offender is used to ensure as far as possible, thatupon his return to society, not only willing but able to lead a law abiding and self-supporting life.Section 59 of the rule recommends that; “To this end, the institution should utilize all the remedial, educational, moral, Spiritual and other forces and forms of assistance which are appropriate, available and should seek to apply them according to the individual treatment Needs of the prisoners”. When offenders are perceived as sick and helpless persons who, therefore, need to be treated or helped in order to recover or to be restored to a state of normalcy this is referred to as reformation. This is the idea of changing the offender from their law breaking behavior to law abiding behavior. According toIgbo (1999),prisons today have a number of programmes designed to divert offenders from crime to useful pursuit that will make crime unattractive or condemnable. This includes moral and religious instructions, education and vocational training, and the value of hard work and discipline.

Today, the Nigerian prison service is assigned the onerous responsibility of ensuring the safe custody of offenders as well as their reformation and rehabilitation. According to Igbo (1999), carefully designed and well-articulated administrative, reformative and rehabilitative programmes aimed at inculcating discipline, respect for law and order, and the dignity of honest labour. The offender in this wise is prepared to become not only law abiding but also useful to both himself and the society (NPS, 1984).

Despite the philosophical change on the rationale of imprisonment from that which is wholly punishment orientated to that which lays more emphasis on reformation and rehabilitation which makes life of crime undesirable to these offenders upon release into the society, the rate of return of ex-convicts to prison (recidivists) presents an uncomfortable figure. In 2010, the total number of recidivist among inmates in Nigeria was 42.8% ((NPS, Annual Report, 2010). Similarly, in 2012, out of 36,309 inmates, 14,310 were recidivists, an increasing rate of re-offending approximately 1.6% monthly (NPS, Annual Reports, 2012). Recidivism can be defined as the act of persistently going back to a life of crime.Recidivism, in a criminal justice context, can be defined as the reversion of an individual to criminal behavior after he or she has been convicted of a prioroffense, sentenced, and (presumably) corrected. It results from theconcatenation of failures: failure of the individual to live up to society’sexpectations – or failure of society to provide for the individual; a consequentfailure of the individual to stay out of trouble; failure of the individual, as anoffender, to escape arrest and conviction; failure of the individual as an inmateof a correctional institution to take advantage of correctional programs – orfailure of the institution to provide programs that rehabilitate; and additionalfailures by the individual in continuing in a criminal career after release(Maltz, 1981). Thus, a recidivist is that person who is prone to crime commission, and is consistently imprisoned. Usually, such a life style begins with an arrest, a trial and conviction, integration into a prison sub-culture, release, a relapse into life of crime another arrest, a trial and a conviction. A recurring pattern out of which, the recidivist can hardly stay away from prison life.

1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

The correctional facility or penitentiary is a place designated by law to house inmates who have either been tried or sentenced, or are remanded in custody to await trial. The philosophy under-pinning the existence and role of the correctional facility has experienced a shift over the years from that which was wholly punitive and retributive in nature, to the current philosophy of reformation and rehabilitation. The penitentiary is a place whereby those who are serving sentences for offences committed are remanded so as to enable them evaluate their actions, learn new skills, abilities and behaviors that are pro-social in nature and will help move them to a non-offending pattern of life. The goal therein is to ensure that when released into the society these, former inmates are sufficiently equipped to fit in alongside the rest of the society (Fitzgerald & Sim, 1982).It is in line with the above scenario that the correctional facility should be a place where offenders are properly classified into those sentenced and awaiting trial, and for those sentenced, based on the type of offence committed, gender and regularity of offence. The penitentiary should be a place equipped with the requisite security infrastructure to forestall inmate escape. Another crucial aspect of the penitentiary is that it should possess necessary infrastructure that guarantees a decent living for the inmates especially in terms of sanitation and hygiene. The correctional measures and efforts put in place in a penitentiary forms the core of this arm of the Criminal Justice System, this is because given the current philosophy of reformation and rehabilitation the inmates in a penitentiary are to be put through a variety of programmes ranging from the vocational, educational, behavioral, even to the spiritual. All these in a bid to ensure that the inmates experience a paradigm shift and embark on a non-offending life style upon completion of their incarceration period (Ryan & Sim, 1998).

In a study carried out by Alemika and Chukwuma (2000), it was observed that the provision of educational, vocational and religious or moral training for inmates are considered by officials as measures for the correction, reformation and rehabilitation of offenders. Similarly, Gulleng (2012) observed that the provision of education, vocational and moral religious education along with the safe custody of the offenders is considered the primary responsibilities of correctional and penal institutions. The reality on ground however, is that these facilities, opportunities and reorientations are not enough or grossly inadequate. There are inadequate staff and overcrowded inmates, which militates against the effective use of the obsolete facilities in the workshop. Training programmes for prison inmates are disorganized. Facilities including qualified teachers and relevant books are most inadequate. Prisoners in the tailoring, welding and carpentry section have no equipment to work with; sewing machine could not go round. “Invariably, prison inmates interested in acquiring professional skills while in the prison with the hope of setting up their own businesses on discharge end upbecoming frustrated and dejected because of poor conditions of service, lack of inadequate equipment and meaningful programmes, the wards have resorted tobeing aggressive towards the prisoner (Alemika & Chukwuma, 2000).

The United Nations report on the state and conditions of Nigerian prisons as recorded in the Vanguard of Friday,Adeseye (2006),observed that; “All the prisons visited had very limited facilities for rehabilitation. Wherethese exist, they include basic equipment’s and facilities for such activities as wood work, tailoring/welding,electronics and sewing. Nevertheless, the facilities are extremely limited and in all cases the tools are few and inpoor state of repair”.In fact, contemporary Nigerian prisons have been described as “human cages with no facilities for correction, reformation, and vocational training” (Ahire, 1990). According to Igbo (1999), though the Nigerian prison service claimsto have carefully designed and well-articulated administrative reformative and rehabilitative programmes aimed at inculcating discipline, respect for law and order, and inculcating the dignity of honest labour, thus preparing the offender to be useful to themselves and the society(NPS, Annual Report, 1984). Igbo (1999) laments that the extent to which these claims of reformation and rehabilitation are been achieved is highly debatable given the ever increasing rate of repeaters returning to the penitentiary. In recent time, recidivism has not only been on the increase in sub-Saharan Africa, but has become a major social problem to the society, governments, multinational humanitarian organizations and the world over(Kelechi, 2013). In Nigeria, the rate at which released inmates return back into prison upon release have attracted the attentions and interests of criminologists, sociologists and social science scholars from other disciplines(Soyombo, 2009). According to Adetula and Fatusin (2010),the penal institutions subsystem, the justice, the police, the prison yard and the operative ways of administering justice is believed to bring about breeding and enhancing criminal behavior and recidivists than serving, deterrence, repentance, reformatory and reconciliatory attitudes between ex-convicts and people in free society to enhance confidence in physical and conceptual security. The prison is now seen as a school of criminality rather than a place of reformation and rehabilitation. According to Branham (1992), Prison is a school for criminals, and those who are incarcerated become more sophisticated and more entrenched criminals.Recidivism is now a common phenomenon among inmates in the Nigerian prison. This includes both the male and female inmates in the Nigerian prison custody. Soyombo (2009), reported that the prevalence rate of criminal recidivism in Nigeria in 2005 was 37.3%. AlsoAbrifor, Atere, & Muoghalu(2011), estimated the prevalence of recidivism in Nigerian prison at 52.4% in 2010. Since then, there has not been any indication that the trend has declined.Wilson (2009), also reported that studies conducted in Nigeria have documented that 81% of male criminal inmate offenders and 45% of criminal inmate offender were re-arrested in 36 months of release or discharge from the prison custody (Abrifor, etal;2011). However the main aim of establishing the prison institution in all parts of the world including Nigeria is to provide reformation and rehabilitation for those who violated the rules and regulations of their society. How practically this will work out becomes a problem. Against this background of the existing gap arising from the questions of functionality of the Nigerian prisons, the researcher is driven to investigate theexisting nature of therehabilitative and reformative programof Kaduna and Zaria prisons, the causes of recidivism in Kaduna and Zariaprisons. The extent to which the correctional facilities and programmes employed in Nigeria penitentiaries serve to reduce the occurrence of recidivism. Answers to the following questions will be sought by the researcher in the course of the study.

1.3         RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions have been raised for this study

1. What is the nature of the rehabilitative and reformative programs in Kaduna and Zaria prisons?
2. What are the correctional facilities and programmes in place that helps rehabilitate and reform inmates in Kaduna and Zaria prisons?
3. What are the causes of recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons?
4. What are the challenges faced by staff and inmates of Kaduna and Zaria prisons?
5. What measures can be suggested to mitigate the phenomenon of recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons?

1.4         AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalent and causesof recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons. This will be achieved through the following specific objectives:

1. To examine the nature of the rehabilitative and reformative programs in Kaduna and Zaria prisons.
2. To examine the effectiveness of correctional facilities and programmes in Kaduna and Zaria prisons.
3. To identify the causes of recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons.
4. To assess the challenges faced by staff and inmates of Kaduna and Zaria prisons.
5. To proffer solutions that will help reduce the rate of recidivism.

1.5         SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research highlights the prevalent and causes of recidivism in view of the correctional Facilities and programmes in Kaduna and Zaria prisons, which helps in the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates. Apart from reducing crime rate and recidivism, the study advocates for practical and conscientious positive actionstowards reducing the increasing rate of recidivism in the Nigeria society especially in Kaduna and Zaria prisons. Inpractical terms, the findings of this study brings to the fore the prevalent and causes of recidivism as well as the inadequacies, deficiencies, flaws and other problemsinherent in the process of rehabilitation andreformation of prisoners in the Nigerian Prisons. Moreover, this research also draws the attention of readers to the fact that majority of recidivists in Kaduna and Zaria prisons are youths. This has an effect on our growth and developments as a nation because these youths are within the ages of (19-31) and they are at their productive stage.

This study also came up with recommendations that will have practical implications in government policies which will see the need to address the root causes of recidivism and provide adequate measures in mitigating it. It also strives to highlight the internal causes of recidivism by critically examining the correctional measures in place that might help reduce the rate of recidivism. Above all, a lot has been written on prison, correctional measures, and recidivism. But very few have been written on prevalent and causes of recidivism as well as the interplay of correctional measures, its failures and its contributions to increasing rate of recidivism. Therefore, this research helps to elaborate on the importance of effective correctional measures in helping to reduce recidivism. This research theoretically helps to add to the existing literature on recidivism, and to examine the correctional measures used in our penal institutions with a view to making improvements where necessary. This study also helps to contribute to existing knowledge in the area which will be of immense benefit to researchers, educationist and the society at large.

1.6         SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The researcher focuses on Prevalent and Causes of recidivism in Kaduna and Zaria prisons. The chosen geographical areas of the study are Kaduna and Zaria prison. The selection of these 2 prisons is to enable the researcher to compare the prevalent and causes of recidivism in both prison. The prisons selected as of the time of the research harbors more recidivist than any other prison in the state.The subject scope includes the staff of the Kaduna and Zaria prisons and the recidivists. The data for the research was collected between 24th – 28^thNovember 2014.

1.7         DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPT

Crime: An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law.

Criminal Justice System: The criminal justice system is the set of agencies and processes established by governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws

Prison:A building in which people are legally held as a punishment for a crime they have committed or while awaiting trial.

Rehabilitation: To teach (a criminal in prison) to live a normal and productive life.

Reformation: An act of relinquishing a criminal lifestyle.

Reintegration: The action or process of integrating someone back into society.

Stigmatization: A mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one’s reputation.

Recidivism:Repeated or habitual relapse, as into crime.

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