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33 Med. & L. 11 (2014)
Human Rights and Nigerian Prisoners - Are Prisoners Not Humans?

handle is hein.journals/mlv33 and id is 415 raw text is: Med Law (2014) 33:11-20 Medicine and Law World Association for Medical Law Ethics HUMAN RIGHTS AND NIGERIAN PRISONERS - ARE PRISONERS NOT HUMANS? I.A. Joshua *, Y.Y. Dangata**, 0. Audu***, A.G Nmadu* and N.V.Omole* Abstract: In Nigeria, just like in many other parts of the world, one of the most extensively discussed issues on the public agenda today is the increase in prison population. The aims of imprisonment are protection, retribution, deterrence, reformation and vindication. Investigations revealed that the prison services have been neglected more than any other criminal justice agency in Nigeria. For example, most of the prisons were built during the colonial era for the purpose of accommodating a small number of inmates. Human Rights are the basic guarantees for human beings to be able to achieve happiness and self-respect; consequently, in most jurisdictions, the Human Rights Act confirms that these Rights do not stop at the prison gates. However, most States fail to meet the Human Rights obligations of their prisoners. As regards to health, for example, every prison should have proper health facilities and medical staff to provide dental and psychiatric care among others. This article discusses the Nigerian Prison System and challenges, trends and the related Human Rights and Ethical issues in Nigerian prisons. Some of the unmet needs of Nigerian prisoners which include, inter alia, living in unwholesome cells, delayed trial of inmates, lack of voting rights, access to information, lack of conjugal facilities for married prisoners, poor and inadequate nutrition, poor medical care, torture, inhumane treatment and the need to protect prisoners in a changing world. The present report has policy implications for reforming prison services in * Department of Community Medicine, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria. Emaill: dristifanusl@ @ahoo.com ** Centre for Medical Law and Ethics and International Collaboration. Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria ** Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, College of Health Sciences, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria

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