INTRODUCTION
Prison overcrowding is a problem for the
majority of criminal justice systems worldwide, which continues to exist
unchecked in the face of declining crime rates and substantial prison
construction plans. However, it is not a particular trait of just Nigeria, but
also of rich countries with strong economies and developing nations with weak
economies (Penal Reform International, 2010). People who disobey social norms
and principles have typically faced discipline, sanctions, and punishment
throughout history. The retributivists and deterrence philosophers emphasize
that a deviant should be punished in order to exact vengeance for his misdeeds
and to dissuade him or others from committing similar crimes in the future. It
has traditionally been considered humane to confine dangerous individuals; this
practice can be traced back to biblical times. The best way to conceptualize
imprisonment is as a formal means of inflicting suffering on the wrongdoer. It
is a penalty that should hold offenders back from receiving further punishment
and is likely to harm, discourage, and render them incapable. In certain
regions of the nation, these have been a component of the conventional criminal
justice system (Obioha, 1995 and 2002). A culture of
chronic overcrowding, excessive use of prison, and an
increase in the number of inmates awaiting trial are the causes of prison
overcrowding, which resulted from a slow, constant, and long-term growth in the
prison population (Albrecht, 2010). According to these powers, the Nigerian police
can hold and arrest anybody who they believe to have committed crimes without
first conducting an investigation. Prisons are overcrowded and literally
bursting at the seams with inmates, as recently discovered in Port Harcourt,
where the prison with a capacity of 804 inmates has 2796 convicted inmates and
2500 awaiting trial persons (The Pointer News Online, 2015). Other contributing
factors include the delay of justice and adjournment of cases by judges and
magistrates. Poverty can contribute to overcrowding by preventing people from
getting an education or finding work, which leads to people turning to crime as
a means of surviving. When there is insufficient rehabilitation and formation,
offenders who have a high percentage of recidivism or who are habitual
criminals are more likely to perpetrate crimes after being released from jail.
Additionally, as people cried out for harsher punishment and stiffer sentences
in response to the rising threat of crime related to sexual offenses,
drug-related offenses, murder, armed robbery, and terrorism, the rate of
imprisonment increased along with the level of crime (Rutherford, 1984). Due to
poor cleanliness and inadequate medical care, etc., these situations led to
both physical and psychological issues, allowed for self-inflicted damage, and
increased the likelihood of catching infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, respiratory tract infections, asthma, and others. Additionally,
it creates a severe housing problem, causing inmates to compete for space and
rendering the classification of inmates meaningless.
Gradually, the rapid lengthening of prison
terms automatically increases the prison population, resulting in overcrowding.
It was accepted that imprisonment would help inmates resist criminal tendencies
both inside and outside prison because of discipline, education, and
classification based on a moral diagnosis. The causes of crime were perceived
to be a disregard for religious and moral principles, ignorance of duty,
idleness, and drinking habits. The growth of the jail population was the first
historical trend toward alternative sentencing (Andrew, Allison, and Rodney,
2003). Recidivism is another startling topic that causes a lot of anxiety
because it is believed that this group of offenders is in a state of complete
hostility toward society and has no chance of changing their conduct. In this
case, it was considered that it would be harmful to hold first-time offenders
alongside habitual and repeat criminals, which would also hinder the former's rehabilitation.
Separating the criminals into groups is the only method to stop this trend;
yet, due to the overcrowding in the jail, it is impossible to classify the
offenders (Saleilles, 1911). Pre-trial detention,
recidivism, and the lack of a criminal categorization in Nigeria's criminal
justice system all contribute to jail congestion, which makes prison reform and
rehabilitation impossible, particularly in Port Harcourt prison.
Statement
of the Problem
The prison system in Nigeria has been
characterized by various problems, among which is that the prisons are
overpopulated and literally overflowing with inmates ‘in Nigeria, for example,
it was discovered recently in Port Harcourt that the prison with a capacity of
804 inmates had 362 convicts and 2646 awaiting trial persons that is the total
of 3008 inmates. The Nigerian prisons have remained in obsolete condition from
the moment the authority was taken over by Nigerians from the colonial masters.
The size and the number of prisons are not proportional to our population
growth.
Research
Objectives
1. To identify the
alternative sentencing options used by Nigeria criminal court.
2. To determine their
rate of use by criminal courts in Nigeria, of alternative sentencing options
compared to imprisonment sentencing options.
3. To investigate the impact of alternative
sentencing on prison congestion in Port Harcourt prison.
LITERATURE
REVIEW
According to Ayade
(2010), prison overcrowding can be defined as the situation where an
institution's capacity to adequately meet an inmate's physical and
psychological needs is exceeded by the number of inmates housed there.
Overcrowding simply refers to a scenario in which the number of convicts at a
particular time exceeds the official capacity of a jail to securely provide for
the needs of the inmates. Technically, prison overcrowding began as soon as the
criminal justice system began locking up more offenders for longer periods of
time than the jail's capacity officially permits.
Alternative sentencing is when a judge or
magistrate uses a discipline or punishment other than imprisonment to apply to
criminal defendants who have been found guilty. The range of sentencing outside
of incarceration has been referred to as alternative sentencing. The common
options in the study area include: community service, fine, compensation and
probation. The fine option reveals that penalties of
these kinds existed in earlier historical eras when prisons were used to house
debtors and those awaiting trial and punishment, before any insight into the
historical evolution of such punishment to public labor.
At the end of the nineteenth century, prison
legislation in Western nations began to include alternatives to incarceration.
The judges in the civil law system have the additional discretionary power to
penalize the criminal. By the 1970s, new alternative sentencing and punishment
strategies had been developed. Alternative sentencing alternatives include
conditional dismissal of cases during the prosecution phase, plea bargaining,
parole, probation, sanctions limiting and removing rights during the execution
phase, community service, payment, and public work during the execution phase,
and intermittent custody and house arrest during the execution phase.
METHOD
AND MATERIALS
This research adopted the survey design method, the sample size for the study was 500 respondents
comprising the court, prison officials, and inmates in
Port Harcourt.
A simple random sampling technique was used, to select 500 persons,
the study employed both primary and secondary as the sources for data
collection. questionnaire was used for data collection
and analysis based on the stated research objectives. The data collected was
placed on a frequency table which represents the analysis of the closed-ended
part and the data on the open-ended part of the questionnaire using the
descriptive method of qualitative data analysis.
RESULTS
Alternative
sentencing options used by Nigerian criminal courts.
Table 1: Percentage Distribution of
Alternative Sentencing options used by Nigerian Criminal Courts.
|
Alternative sentencing options used by Nigerian
criminal courts.
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
|
Fine
|
356
|
74.8
|
|
compensation
|
-
|
-
|
|
Community service
|
-
|
-
|
|
Probation
|
-
|
-
|
|
None of the above
|
120
|
2.52
|
|
Total
|
476
|
100
|
Table 1: shows that 74.8% of the respondents
indicated a fine option, 0% of the respondent indicated compensation, 0% of the
respondents indicated community service, 0% of the respondent indicated
probation 25.2% of the respondents indicated none of the above.
This shows that the majority of the
respondents agreed that the only alternative sentencing option in Nigeria
criminal courts is the fine option
Table 2: Percentage distribution of the rate
the Nigeria criminal court uses alternative sentencing options to imprisonment.
|
The
extent the Nigerian criminal courts use. Alternative sentencing options to
imprisonment
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
|
Very
high
|
10
|
2.1
|
|
High
|
54
|
11.3
|
|
Low
|
182
|
42.5
|
|
Very
low
|
202
|
38.2
|
|
None
of the above
|
28
|
5.9
|
|
Total
|
476
|
100
|
Table 2: shows that
2.1% of the respondents indicated very high, 11.3% of the respondents indicated
high, 42.5% of the respondents indicated low, 38.2% of the respondents
indicated very low, and 5.9% of the respondents indicated none of the above.
These
show that the majority of the respondents affirmed that the extent the Nigerian
criminal courts use alternative sentencing to imprisonment is low.
Table 3: Percentage Distribution of the
impact of the alternative sentencing on prison congestion in Port Harcourt
prison.
|
Does alternative sentencing have an impact on prison
congestion in Port Harcourt prison?
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
|
Yes
|
143
|
30.
|
|
No
|
333
|
70
|
|
Total
|
476
|
100
|
Table
3: shows that 30% of the respondents indicated that alternative sentencing
options have an impact on Port Harcourt prison while 70% of the respondents
disagreed.
This
shows that the majority of the respondents indicated that alternative
sentencing options have no impact on prison congestion in Port Harcourt prison.
DISCUSSION
OF FINDINGS
The findings of this study demonstrated that
the fine option is the only alternative sentencing option employed by Nigerian
criminal courts. Before imposing the fine sentence option, the court must first
ask about the offender's financial position; if the criminal is unable to pay,
he or she may still be obliged to serve prison time. The results of the
investigation into jail overcrowding in Port Harcourt show the challenges the
Nigerian criminal justice system faces in creating alternate punishments. Here
are some of them: You cannot expect someone who committed murder, kidnapping,
and arm robbery to come out and serve community service terms in Nigeria since
the country is so corrupt when it comes to committing serious crimes. There
will be an increase in crime in society, notwithstanding the respondents'
claims that the National Assembly is still debating whether to implement a
community service punishment for people who commit minor offenses. In Nigeria,
the use of alternative sentencing choices is used at a rate of 2.1% very high,
11.3% high, 38.2% low, 42.5% very low, and 5% none of the above. Because it is
unreasonable to expect a criminal who has committed a homicide, kidnapping, or
armed robbery to serve a sentence that will still allow him or her to commit
the same crime, such as community service, a fine, or another punishment, it
suggests that Nigerian criminal courts rarely use alternative sentencing. 71.8%
of respondents say that the alternative sentencing option in Nigerian criminal
court has no good effect on the number of prisoners in Port Harcourt jail,
while 18.2% of respondents say that it does. With 362 convicts who have been
found guilty and 2646 others who are awaiting trial, Port Harcourt is extremely
overcrowded with prisoners compared to its capacity. In total, there were 3008
inmates. (Office of Statistics, Port Harcourt, Rivers State
Command, Office of Prison Administration). All signs point to the fact
that the alternative sentencing choices offered by Nigeria's criminal justice
system have not helped to reduce the overcrowding of detainees in Port Harcourt
jail.
CONCLUSION
Almost every country in the world has been
affected by the issue of jail overcrowding. In reality, the alternative
sentencing option in Nigeria's criminal justice system has not been able to
ease jail overcrowding, particularly in Port Harcourt. Despite the fine
penalty, there is a lot of congestion inside the prison. The fine sentence is
optional, but not every crime qualifies for one. For example, crimes like
murder, kidnapping, and armed robbery result in a life sentence rather than a
fine following a conviction. The majority of inmates
awaiting trial who are close to the court administration, the director of
public prosecution's infrequent visits, the president, governor, chief judges
of the state, and attorney general of the federation's negligence in granting
amnesty, and the lack of an appropriate alternative punishment for those who
committed minor offenses are the main causes of prison overcrowding. All signs point to
Port Harcourt prison being able to become less crowded if all these issues are
appropriately addressed.
RECOMMENDATIONS
·
The
National Assembly should make more policies regards to creating alternative
sentencing options that can handle these minor offenses and pass them into law
to reduce congestion in the prison.
·
The
Federal Government should create a policy in the criminal justice system to
confer ultimate powers on the Chief justice of the federation and the chief
judges of state to carry out a monthly release to prison inmates whose
detention is unlawful or who have been incarcerated for a longer period than
they supposed to serve.
·
The
Human right commission should visit the prison and interfere in the issue of
awaiting trial persons, to release those whose human rights have been infringed
upon by holding them beyond the time stipulated by law for an offense which
they had committed.
·
The
government should fund the Legal Aid Council design to mitigate the increasing
numbers of prisoners and detainees who are poor and rendered helpless as they
are unable to engage the service of private lawyers to offer a proper criminal
defense.
·
The
police should not indulge in indiscriminate arrest
of suspects without proper investigation. Let there be a proper investigation
before the apprehension of criminals.
·
The
federal government should endeavor to expand the existing prisons in other to
generate more space for the inmates.
·
The
court should sit up by judging cases without delay and adjournment of cases
unnecessarily which contributes tremendously to the increase of awaiting trial
persons.
REFERENCES
Albrecht,
H. (2010). Prison Overcrowding: Finding Effective Solutions, Strategies and
Best Practices against Overcrowding in Correctional Facilities, Germany: Max
Planck Institute.
Andrew, C., Allison, C. & Rodney, N.
(2003).
Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization & Human Rights. Corrections p
235: Clarity Press
Ayade, E. (2010). The problem of Prison
Overcrowding in Nigeria: Some Lessons from South Africa and America Europe: Hungary.
Obioha, E. (1995). Prison Culture in
Nigeria: A Study of Life within Agodi Prison
Community, Ibadan: University Press.
Obioha, E. (2002). Punishment in Society and
Perspectives in Sociology, Lagos: Malthouse Press
Limited.
Rutherford,
A. (1984). Prison and the Process of Justice: The Reductionist Challenge, Correctional
Institutions p214: Oxford University Press
Saleilles, R. (1911). The
Individualization of Punishment, (Reprinted 2009 Cornell University Press)
The Pointer News Online, (2015).
