NIGERIAN CORRECTIONAL SERVICE AND PRISON CONGESTION IN PORT HARCOURT CENTRE, RIVERS STATE

This study examined Nigerian Correctional Service and prison congestion in Port Harcourt Centre, Rivers State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A sample size of 260 was obtained from a population of 720 using Taro Yamane Scientific Formula. A self-designed instrument titled,’ Nigerian 
Correctional Service and prison congestion in Port Harcourt Centre Questionnaire’ (NCSaPHCQ) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts and a reliability co-efficient of 0.78 was obtained. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research questions and hypotheses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square respectively. The findings of the study revealed that the roles played by personnel including poor record keeping culture, poor supervision, absence of training and lack of professionalism lead to the congestion of the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre. Also, the clumsy bail processes, lack of effective implementation of prison reforms and absence of synergetic relationship among stakeholders contribute to the teething problem of prison congestion. Based on the above, it was recommended that the personnel of the Centre should improve on their record keeping culture, supervise their subordinate personnel sufficiently, promptly producing inmates in courts and imbibe the culture of professionalism. Finally, the service should employ more robust strategies, implement the various reform programmes, ensure that there is an improved synergetic relationship among stakeholders and initiate policies from within that will ensure that personnel of the Centre perform their duties effectively, efficiently and conscientiously in order to meet up with global standard.