1.1 Introduction
The Nigerian Prisons Service is charged with the core responsibility of promoting public protection by providing assistance for genders in their reformation and rehabilitation under safe, secure and humane conditions, in accordance with universally accepted standards and to facilitate their social reintegration into the society. The Nigerian Prisons Service is supposed to guide and assist the authorities in achieving peaceful and non-riotous situations in the prisons. However, frequent prison breaks in Nigerian prisons have continued to occur. Hence, this trend poses a great research interest, since it is a security threat, not only to the prison authority, but to national security in general.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Prison is an institution designed to securely house people who have been convicted of crime or are on awaiting trial. These individuals known as prisoners or inmates are kept in continuous custody on a short or long-term basis. Individuals who commit the most heinous crime are sent to prison for more years, the more serious the offence, the longer the prison term imposed (Microsoft Encarta 2008).
Also according to McCorkle and Korn (1970)., Prison can be defined as a physical structures in a geographical location, where a number of people living under highly specialized condition utilize the resources and adjust to the alternatives presented to them by a unique kind of social environment.
A prison is seen as a total institution or a place of residence and work where a large number of like situated individuals are cut off from the wider society for appreciable period of time together lead and enforce formally administered round of life.
Adelola, (1982), opined that the physical appearance of prison is of tall wall supplanted with barbwires an iron gates antiquated buildings separated Prisons from its larger community outside. These isolated structures according to him are meant to accomplish the confinement aspect. While confinement is made to detach the prisoners from his previous infectious groups, this new, environment is expected to provide the prisoner with particular opportunities of rethinking, stock taking and repentance from old ways.
Historically, this type of punishment for crime had been determined by economic and political relationship rather than by the public police or any Penological theory. In early English or German law, a system of adjusting wrongs and injuries existed. where by the offender was able to buy off the vengeance against him and his kin by compensation, fines, mutilation, banishment ,enslavement and death were other types of punishment for offenders, Long-term imprisonment was virtually unknown until modern times. In ancient Greece and Rome for example, Mamertine prison, constructed in Rome in the 17th century B.C, consisted of a vast network of dungeons under the cities main sewer (Morris 1978: 475). These subterranean laws held political dissident and criminals for periods of time in cramped, miserable conditions. However, the practice of confining wrong doers for long period as in form of punishment was not wide spread until after 15th century (Microsoft Encarta, 2010).
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