Summary
The inefficiencies observed in the Nigerian Prison system in the bid to performing her statutory functions of correcting prisoners, formed the basis of motivation for this study. Hence, the study aimed at examining the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programs in correctional institution in Nigeria. Two prisons namely were used in this study and the researcher made use of data from both quantitative and qualitative sources to gather the data for this study which were used to answer the research questions Many internal and external factors were found to influence and constrain the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in correctional institutions prison system. The internal/external factors influencing the correction of inmates include: Staff briefing inmates on any matter that affects them (effective communication), inmates using the goodwill of prison officials to meet some of their pressing needs outside the prison walls, Prison environment being kept very clean and hygienic, inmates being fed and clothed properly, and attitude of prison officials towards inmates, cordial relationship between the prisons and their host communities, the activities of faithbased organization and non-governmental organizations and prompt releases of finance from the government. Corrupt practices among prison officials, insufficient prison cells, lack of functional correctional facilities, power struggle between prison staff, poor communication between prison staff and inmates, inequitable distribution of resources meant for prison inmates and poor working attitude of some of the prison staff were found to be the internal factors which constrain the prisons from effectively performing their corrective functions. Also, poor funding of the prisons by the government, late release of funds meant for the prisoners and delays in the criminal justice system with constant strike actions and other logistical problems constrain the corrective roles of prisons and hampers on the efforts towards inmates’ correction. In addition, the study found that prompt release of prison funds, release of wellbehaved prisoners a mid-way to their prison sentence, assisting discharged prisoners with finance to start up a business would help in the correction of inmates. Other findings suggest that establishment of Open University, churches and workshops within the prison yards would be very effective in correcting the prisoners. The respondents were emphatic on the training and retraining of prison staffs as well as the employment of more qualified trainers, as important measures that would help to solve the inefficiencies of the prison staffs in their correctional duties.
