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
1.
Juvenile prison
2.
Minimum, medium and high security prison
3.
psychiatric prison
4.
military prison
THE CASE TYPES AND OFFENCES IN RESPECT TO PRISON TYPES.
1.
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.
2.
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.
3.
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.
4.
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.
5.
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.
6.
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.
1. 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NIGERIA PRISON
The
origin of modern prisons service in Nigeria is 1861. That was the year when
conceptually, western- type prison was established in Nigeria. The declaration
of Lagos as a colony in 1861 marked the beginning of the institution of formal
machinery of governance. At this stage the preoccupation of the colonial
government was to preoccupation of the colonial government was to protect
legitimate trade, guarantee the profit of British merchants as well as
guarantee the activities of the missionaries. To this end by 1861 the acting
governor of the Lagos colony and who was then a prominent British merchant in
Lagos, formed a police force of about 25 constables. This was followed in 1863
by the establishment in Lagos of four courts, a police court to resolve petty
disputes, a criminal court to try the more serious cases, a slave court to try
cases arising from the efforts to abolish the trade in slaves and a commercial
court to resolve disputes among merchants and traders. The functioning of these
courts and the police in that colonial setting necessarily means that prisons
was needed to complete the system. And it was not long in coming for in 1872.
The Broad street prison was established with an initial inmate capacity of 300.
In the Niger Delta the relationship between the local people and the British
merchants had before than bee moderated by special courts of merchants backed
by the British Navy especially with the appointment of John Beecroft as a
consul in 1849. The need for a merchant court was underscored by the fact that
most conflicts between the merchants and the local people were in the main
commercial. Although there was evidence of prison in Bonny at this time, not
much is known about its size and content. But these who were later to oppose
British rule were usually reported as happened in the case of Jaja of Opobo and
King Dappa of Bonny.
However,
the progressive incursion of the British into the hinterland and the
establishment of British protectorate towards the end of the 19th
century necessitated the establishment of prison as the last link in the
criminal justice system. Thus by 1910, there already were prisons in Degema, Calabar,
Onisha, Benin, Ibadan, sapele, Jebba and Lokoja. The declaration of
protectorates over the East, west and North by 1906 effectively brought the
entire Nigeria area under British rule. However, that did not mark the
beginning of a unified Nigeria. Prisons. Had that been so, it would have
negated official colonial policy for that would have required funds which the
colonial power was not prepared to expand.
Even so, the colonial prison at this
stage was not designed to reform anyone. There was no systematic penal policy
from which direction could be sought for penal administration. Instead
prisoners were in the main used for public works and other jobs for the
colonial administration. For that reason there was no need for recruitment of
trained officers of the prisons. Hence, colonial prisons had no trained and
developed staff of their own and instead the police also performed prisons
duties. As time went on ex-servicemen were recruited to do the job.
They
were also very poorly run and the local prison conditions varied from one place
to another in their disorganization, callousness and exploitation. But so long
as they served the colonial interest of ensuring law and order collecting
taxes, and providing labour for public works, they were generally left alone.
The result was that the prisons served the purpose of punishing those who had
the guts to oppose colonial administration in one form or the other while at
the same time cowing those who might want to stir up trouble for the colonial
set up.
The
person regulation was published in 1917 to prescribe admission, custody,
treatment and classification procedures as well as staffing, dieting and
clothing regimes for the prisons. These processes were limited in one very
sense. They were not geared towards any particular type of treatment of
inmates. Instead they represent just policies of containment of those who were
already in prison. Besides, they were limited in application to those who were
convicted or remanded in custody by criminal courts of the British-inspired
supreme or provincial types. Those remanded or convicted by the native courts
were sent to Native authority prisons. The prison regulation also distinguished
between Awaiting Trail and Convicted Inmates application of this general rule
to the national prison while the native authority prison went their own way
effectively stultified the appearance of a national prison goal- orientation in
terms of inmate treatment.
It
was not until 1934 that any meaningful attempt was made to introduce relative
modernization into the prison service. It was at this time that Colonel V.L. Mabb
was appointed Director of prisons by the then Governor Sir Donald Cameron.
Although a military officers, Mabb had an understanding of what prisons should
be. And he went on to do his best. What he seemed to have focused his attention
on was the formation of a unified prison structure for the whole country but he
failed. Yet he succeeded in extending the substantive Director of prisons
Supervisory and inspectoral power over the Native Authority Prisons by this
time dominant in the North. It was also during his tenure that the prisons warders’
welfare Board was formed.
His
efforts were to be continued by his successor R.H. Dolan (1946-1955). Mr. Dolan
was a trained prisons officer and when he assumes duties in Nigeria he already
had a wealth of experience ion prison administration in both Britain and the
colonies. Although a scheme for the introduction of vocational training in the
National prisons had been introduced in 1917 and it failed except in Kaduna and
Lokoja prisons where it was functioning in 1926, Mr. Dolan reintroduced it in
1949 as a cardinal part of a penal treatment in Nigeria. He also made
classification of prisoners mandatory in all prisons and went on to introduce
visits by relations to inmates. He also introduced progressive earning schemes
for long term first offenders. He also transferred the prisons Head quarters
formerly in Enugu to Lagos to facilitate close cooperation with other
department of state. He also introduced moral and adult education classes to be
handled by competent ministers and teachers for both Christian and Islamic
education programmes for recreation and relaxation of prisons were introduces
during his tenure as well as the formation of an association for the care and
rehabilitation of discharged prisoners. But above all. He initiated a programme
for the construction and expansion of even bigger convict prisons to enhance
the proper classification and accommodation of prisoners.
On
manpower developments he was instrumental to the prison training school, Enugu
in 1947. He also saw to the appointment of educated wardresses to take charge
of the female wings of the service conditions of the prison staff. In addition,
he took classification a step further when in 1948 he opened four reformatories
in Lagos and converted part of the Port-Harcourt prisons for the housing and
treatment of juveniles, five years later he was to build an open prison in
Kakuri-Kaduna to take care of first offenders who had committed such crimes as
murder and manslaughters, and who are serving term of 15years or more. The idea
was to train them with minimum supervision in agriculture so that on discharge
they could employ themselves gainfully.
In fact, Dolan’s tenure represented a very high point in the evolution of
Nigeria prisons service.
1.3 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF LAFIAGI TOWN
Lafiagi town is bi=bounded in the north
by Niger state in the south, is bounded by Shonga and Gbugbu while Patagi Local
government on the east – side of the town.
The
Lafiagi town covers a land mass of about 1849 sq kilometers, the largest populace
of this town concentrated on agriculture as a result of abundant fertile farm
land. The town has some satellites
town like Isaragi, Shonga, Patigi and a number of villages surrounding it, also
historical lafiagi main market is at the center of the town, lafiagi is now the
headquarters of the Edu local government council most of the traditional
emirates inhabitants are Muslim Nupe people.
A
market centre for rice, yams, sorghum, millet, corn (maize), sugarcane,
kolanuts, peanuts (groundnuts), palm produce, fish, cattle, and cotton, the
town is also a collecting point for the rice grown on the fasamas (flood
plains0 of the Niger and for dried fish. Cotton weaving is traditionally
important. Lafiagi has a government maternity clinic dispensing general
hospital. Population (2008) 30,976.
MOTIVATION/JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT TOPIC
1.4
MOTIVATION
Today Nigeria is facing the problem of insecurity and also
the problem of unemployment in the country which increases the rate of crimes
committed in this country such as rapping, robbery, and smoking e.t.c
So it is my
desire to embark on this project and design a well functional medium security
prison at Lafiagi.
1.5
JUSTIFICATION
Nowadays, due to unemployment in the
country, there are many criminal activities such as robbery, raping, smoking,
murder e.t.c. the alarming rate of these crimes requires the provision of
medium security prisons at strategic areas across the country. The capacity of
Lafiagi is 34 and presently occupied over 100 prisoners.
For the above
stated reasons, it is my desire to design a well functional and modern prison
to house convict, C.C, ATM, ATF criminals.
1.6 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
AIM
To
design a well functional and aesthetically balance building that will suit the
taste of time and easy to maintain.
OBJECTIVES
1)
To promote enough security.
2)
To create prison vocational centre, where prisoners will be
reformed and rehabilitated
3)
To design a functioning and aesthetically balanced building.
4)
To design more cells for the comfort of the prisoners.
5)
To design modern medium security prison.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
1)
Male and female cell
2)
Security room
3)
Armed forces post
4)
Kitchen
5)
Canteen
6)
Holding cell (temporary cell)
7)
Storage
8)
Exhibition space.
9)
Library
10)
Shower
11)
Infirmary
12)
Morgue
13)
Yard
14)
Execution room
15)
Visitation room
16)
Prisoner’s reception
17)
Administrative block
18)
Laundry
19)
Chaplain/mosque
20)
Vocational center
21)
Conveniences
22)
Garage.
1.8 RESEARCH MTHODOLOGY
This project is
undertaking by way of careful selection of some methods. The methods involved
are:
1)
Cases studies
2)
Oral interview
3)
Literature review
4)
Photograph
- CASE STUDIES: it’s a review of some existing formal
prisons, which reveals notable merits and demerits. - ORAL INTERVIEW: was carried out with the officers to
enhance the technical details and utility. - LITERATURE REVIEW: references were made to some
Architecture books in the library and on-line research. - PHOTOGRAPH: some photos were taking during the
case studies.
1.9 CONCLUSSION
This
assessment does appear to have implications both for prison authorities and
prison inmates as well for the Nigeria prison Authorities, the international
standards states that each prisoner must have enough space, although
definitions of adequacy vary from country to country and depend among other
factors on how much time prisoner spend in their cells. It is one thing to
sleep in a confided space another to spend 23 hours a day. The prison standard
minimum rules do say that all cells and perimeter walls and dormitories must
have adequate heating, lighting and ventilation and that every detained or
inmate should have his/her own bed or mattress with clean bedding to enhance
the psychological well being of the inmates fall short of these basic needs.
Moreover,
the prisons studied for this research work will hold more prisoners than the
official capacity. By implication, the minimum required standard in respect of
dimensions e.g. minimum space per prisoner should not less than 3.4 sq