CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the study

Benin kingdom during Oba Ewedor who was the 4th Oba in Benin Kingdom he reigned from 1255 to 1280 AD he was the first Oba to establish native prison called “Ewedor” in his own name where offenders were confined, the keeper or warder “Eriebo” in Benin dialect while the prisoners were called “Eseghan”. This native prison system was in use before the arrival of the colonial masters in 1895. In 1910 during the reign of Oba Eweka, government rebuilds the prisons in the same premises. It can be reveled that during the period 1910-1950 that the prison was fenced with ordinary hard wire and in 1957, the perimeter wall was fenced with burnt bricks.

          As a result of this awareness, the concept of rehabilitation took the top stage in the treatment of delinquents. Rehabilitation is defined as efforts that aim at restoring by formal act or declaration (a person degraded or attained) to former privileges ranks and possession, to re-establish (a person good name or memory) by an authoritative pronouncement. It also means re-establishing the character or reputation of a person or things to restore to a previous condition in order to set up again in proper condition. Applied to the deviants, it means that the society now realize that the deviant, one were on the road to proffer development and can be helped to readjust once more if the proper techniques of rehabilitation are applied. A desirable policy of rehabilitation was therefore formalize to set up again in proper condition those prisoners who have fallen foul of law of the society and who now need to be restored as properly integrated members of the society.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 In order to make this study simpler and easily understood, it is necessary future researcher who might find this study helpful on the main issues in this project. An insight in to a topic reformation and rehabilitation of prison as a function of facilities on human resources in the prison project which in no small measures enhances an understanding of the major issues to be raised in this project. To pave the way therefore, one needs to pose the following questions.

1.                 It is not that some inmate that come out of prisons are not accepted back home, community and society.

2.                 Do any inmates who come out of prison still return back to prison?

3.                 In prison are the inmates being given vocational training?

4.                 Do the governments monitor the inmates to know if they are really given vocational training?

5.                 Have any inmates or prisoner been reform after he/she is back from the prison.

6.                 What is the difference between reformation and rehabilitation in terms of the type and number of self help project undertaken.

7.                 What significant changes reformation and rehabilitation brought in the life of inmates or prisoners in Benin Prison? The above problem will be the focus of this research project.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;

H0:  rehabilitation program has no effect on the mental well-being of the inmate

H1:rehabilitation program has effect on the mental well-being of the inmate

H02:government does not play any role in organizing rehabilitation program for the inmate

H2:government does play role in organizing rehabilitation program for the inmate

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The idea of imprisonment in modern society is not necessarily to punish offenders. In contemporary society, deviants are far cry from what they used to be in the society of old. Then crimes and delinquency were seen as drastic problem that deserved drastic surgical operations stories were told to thieves whose arms were amputated, eyes gorged out and heads basked in but social scientist and scholars of society were to show that despite these treatments stealing, rape and other felonies against society were never really reduced. Instead, they have consistently increased not only in scope and size but also in the degree of viciousness they visited on their victims and the society to this end, the emphasis started shifting from the penal character of remand homes to reformation and rehabilitation. All human society regulates patterns of social interaction by way of norms and values. These norms and values are supposed to be internalized by socialization and social controls, scholars therefore reasoned that if these deviants in the society such deviants have not been properly socialized and alienate them. Efforts should be geared towards reforming and rehabilitating them (Goftman, 1961, Sykes Wheeler and Messinger, 1970).

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the study will be of great importance to the management of the Nigerian prison service, as the findings will help those organized programs for the inmate. The study will also be of benefit, the study will also be of benefit to the inmate as the study will assist them to rehabilitate. government does not play any role in organizing rehabilitation program for the inmate, The study will also be useful to researchers who intend to embark on research in similar topic, Finally the findings of this study will also be immense benefit to government, academia, scholars, researchers and the general public.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers the effectiveness of rehabilitation program in the Nigerian prisons, but in the cause of the study, the researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study:

a)     AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material      available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study.

b)     TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider         coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities        and examinations with the study.

c)     FINANCE: The finance available for the research work does not     allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the        researcher has other academic bills to cover.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is the act of restoring something to its original state, like therehabilitation of the forest that had once been cleared for use as an amusement park. The noun rehabilitation comes from the Latin prefix re-, meaning “again” and habitare, meaning “make fit.

Prison

A prison, correctional facility, detention center (US English), jail (US and Australia), gaol penitentiary (sometime used in American English) or remand centre is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the stat

Inmate

An inmate is a person who lives in a specific place, especially someone who's confined there, like a prisoner.

1.8      ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlight the theoretical framework on which the study its based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.

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