Welfare Deficits and Correctional Services in Nigeria: Periscoping Enugu State

Abstract

Welfare services in Nigerian Correctional Services has been in the top burner in academic discourse. Inmates in most cases are treated like animals. It is on this backdrop that the study examined welfare deficits in Nigerian Correctional Services Enugu. services were being administered in Enugu prison and the factors affecting it. Survey design through structured questionnaire was used to elicit relevant data for the study. Hypotheses were tested using regression analysis. The study revealed that Nigerian Correctional Services Enugu has been unable to meet minimum U.N standard in welfare services because of congestion. There is a continuous use of bucket latrines which expose inmates to health hazards. Apart from inadequate funds, it was revealed that mismanagement of welfare funds has exposed inmates to unhealthy situation, which can result to epidemics and untimely deaths of the inmates. We therefore recommended that government should build more structures in the correctional facility to accommodate the ever increasing number of inmates, states governments should be allowed to create state detention centres as alternative to prisons, constant training and retraining of prison staff in line with current global best practices for prisons becomes necessary.