Use of library information resources by inmates in custodial centre in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

This research work examined the custodial centres’ inmates in Ado Ekiti on use of library information resources to facilitate their literacy and education and become rehabilitated for national development. The descriptive survey desing was adopted for this study. The population comprised the convicts, lifers, awaiting trials, and lodgers, which amounted to 620 inmates as of September 2021. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select both the convicts and the lifers among them as these targets have the opportunity to serve five years and more jail term, and the population now amounts to 135 inmates as the sample size while total enumeration swas chosen at the end to count the sample size. A large percentage of the inmates agreed that the use of library information resources was a must for them. It was found that majority of the inmates wished to become university graduates. It was also found that most of the information resources that could meet the users’ needs were not available. It was recommended that government should assist these vulnerable people by equipping the centre’s library with the relevant information resources that would go a long way to rehabilitate the inmates.