CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Prison is a place used for confinement of convicted criminals. Aside from the death penalty a sentence to prison is the harvest punishment imposed on criminals.
Prisons are designed to house people who have broken the law and to move them from free society. In mates are locked away for a set period of time and have very limited freedom during their incarceration.
Confinement in prison, also known as a correctional facility, is the punishment that courts most commonly impose for serious crimes, such as felonies for lesser crimes, courts usually Impose short-term incarceration in a jail, detention center, or similar facility.
Confining criminals for long period of time as the primary form of punishment is a relatively new concept. Throughout history, various countries have imprisoned criminal offenders, but imprisonment was usually reserved for pre detention or punishment of petty criminals with a short term of confinement.
Using long-term imprisonment as the primary punishment for convicted criminals began in the United States. In the late eighteenth century, the nonviolent quarters in Pennsylvania proposed long term confinement as an alternative to capital punishment. The Quakers stressed solitude, silence, rehabilitation, hard work, and religious faith. was originally intended not only as a punishment but an opportunity for renewal through religion.
Modern prisons often hold hundreds or thousands of inmates, and must have facilities onsite to meet most of their needs, including dietary.
TYPES OF PRISONS
- Juvenile prison
- Minimum, medium and high security prison
- psychiatric prison
- military prison
THE CASE TYPES AND OFFENCES IN RESPECT TO PRISON TYPES.
- JUVENILE PRISON: an individual under the age of 18 is considered a juvenile. Any one who is not of a legal age is never locked up in a general prison with adults. They are instead placed in a facility that is designed exclusively for juveniles.
- MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON: minimum security prisons are usually reserved for white collar criminals who have committed acts such as embezzlement or fraud. Although these are serious crimes, they are non-violent in nature and therefore the perpetrators are not considered to be a risk for violence. These perpetrators are sent to facilitate that offer a dormitory type living environment, fewer guards and personal freedom.
- MEDIUM SECURITY PRISON: medium security prisons are the standard facilities used to house most criminals guards and a much more regimented daily routine than minimum security.
- HIGH SECURITY PRISON: high security prisons are reserved for the most violent and dangerous offenders. These prisons include far more guards both minimum and medium securities have very little freedom. Each person confined to such a prison is considered to be a high-risk individual.
- PSYCHIATRIC PRISON: law-breakers who are deemed to be mentally unfit are sent to psychiatric prisons that are designed with resemblances to hospitals. Once there, the inmates, or patients receive psychiatric help for their mental disorders. As with any prison that pursues methods of rehabilitation, psychiatric prisons are intended to try and help people as opposed to just confining them as a means of punishment.
- MILITARY PRISON: every branch of military has their own prison facilities that are used specifically for military personnel who have broken laws that affect national security, or to house prisoners of war. The treatment of these prisoners has been a subject of much debate in recent times, and the definition of torture for enemy combatants has becomes a controversial and often discussed topic.
CAPACITY OF SOME NIGERIAN PRISONS
1. Maiduguri 1600
2. Yola 500
3. Gombe 379
4. kaduna convict prison 889
5. Kano central prison 690
6. Katsina central prison 237
7. Benin 240
8. Sokoto central prison 576
9. Zamfara medium security 406
10. Makurdi 1149
11. Keffi 160
12. Ilorin 121
13. Kuje 560
14. Minna 149
15. Okene 160
16. Borstal prison Kaduna 208
17. Jalingo 250
1.1 PROJECT DEFINITION
- A prison is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms as a form of punishment.
- Medium security prison: is refers to that class of inmates who are eligible for placement at a work camp with a secure perimeter but who are not eligible for placement in an outside work assignment without armed supervision.
Medium security prisons are for offenders with lower security concerns. These institutions limit inmate activities but also encourage inmates to participate in various programs to address their needs. Significant controls over inmate activities and privileges are in place. The most common use of prisons is as part of a criminal justice system, in which individuals officially charged with or convicted of crimes are confined to a jail or prison until they either brought to trial to determine their guilt or complete the period of incarceration they trial, outside of their use for punishing civil crimes, authoritarian regimes also frequently use prisons and jails as tools of political repression to punish political crimes, often without trial or other legal due process; this use is illegal under most forms of international law governing fair administration of justice. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in military prisons or prisoner of war camps, and large groups of civilians might be imprisoned in internment camps.
         The medium security prisons are the standard facilities used to house most criminals. They feature cage-style housing, armed guards, and a much more regimented daily routine than minimum security.
