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,