The Chimera of Incarceration: Penal Institutionalization and its Alternatives in a Progressive Nigeria

Abstract

The central thesis of this paper is that Nigerian correctional thinking is dominated by an ideology of incarcera tion ; that in concept and practice the institutionalization of offenders in the country has failed and become counter-produc tive. Institutionalization in Nigeria has not reduced the number of people brought into the formal system of social control but rather has produced a "widening of the net". Community-based corrections, pretrial diversion, increased use of open prisons, therapy, bail, probation, parole, compensation, discharge, binding over, suspended sentencing. furloughs, ombudsmen and personal recognizance, plus various forms of work and study release programs are advocated as alternatives or solutions to many of the problems of contemporary Nigerian corrections. Their small-scale, treatment-oriented approach, emphasis on employment and adjustment programs, and stress on greater accessibility are cited increasingly as reforms needed by a system now dominated by overcrowded, dehumanizing, degrading, criminogenic, repres sive and highly expensive system of control. To achieve the needed depth of change, decarceration must become the primary focus of Nigerian corrections policy. The emphasis on decar ceration does not mean that confinement will disappear, rather that its use will be bound by the criterion of last resort.