Reformation or deformation of human dignity? Question on the sorry conditions of the prisons in Nigeria

This paper examines the general challenges confronting the prison system as the agent of rehabilitation of the offenders in the society. It lays strong emphasis on those problems as they affect the prison system in Nigeria in particular. It is argued in this paper that conditions of the prisons in Nigeria dehumanize the human dignity of the prison inmates. Those conditions make the prison system to further deform the human dignity of the prison inmates that has already been affected by their prison sentences, instead of reforming such human dignity through proper and productive rehabilitative programmes that would turn the inmates around and make them good citizens of this nation in the future. The ways to solve the problems plaguing the Nigeria prison system are discussed, with the hope that if they are judiciously implemented, would turn the Nigeria prison system to a celebrated one within the international community of nations.