The prison subsystem culture: its attitudinal effects on operatives, convicts and the free society

Abstract

The Nigerian distributive justice system guidelines suggest imprisonment culture of dehumanizing, substandard, poor living environmental conditions to Nigerians. The effect is inadequate sanitization and improper reformation, rehabilitation and correctional processes for attitude change by inmates and people in the free society. The penal institutions subsystems; the justice, the police, prison yard and the operatives ways of administering justice is believed to bring about breeding and enhancing criminal behavior and recidivicists than serving; deterrence, repentance, reformatory and reconciliatory attitudes between ex-convicts and people in free society to enhance confidence in physical and conceptual security. These prompted this survey on the prisoners, legal and penal institutions, security operative role performances in South West Nigeria. Six hundred and eighty participants with knowledge of prison or have experienced victimization answered questions on what they felt about the prison services, the prisoners, custody, culture, justice delivered, the knowledge and competences of the law enforcement agents on reformation and rehabilitation of outgoing convicts and acceptability in society. Variables were content analyzed by relating respondents‘ demography to prisoners‘ culture, types and occurrence of crimes, justice delivered and the criminal justice system. Results showed shortcomings in justice delivered, incarceration or prison subculture; deprivation of human rights, poor prison environments with their attitudinal effects on prisoners, prison officials consequently, the incarceration retrospective negative impacts on individuals and exconvicts lives in the free society. Suggestions were made towards ensuring sanitized prison socio cultural environment and that restorative justice approach should be practiced in Nigeria.

Key Words: prison culture attitudinal effect convicts and society