Stakeholders Urge Government To Reform Correctional Service

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s justice and correctional sectors have renewed calls for urgent reforms to restore inmate dignity, address mental-health challenges, and strengthen rehabilitation and reintegration structures across the country’s correctional centres.

The appeal was made on Thursday during the 2025 Seminar Series of the Shamies Unusual Heart Foundation (SUHF) in Abuja, themed “Restoring Dignity and Reducing Recidivism: Education, Partnerships, and Innovation in Nigeria’s Correctional System.”

Speaking at the event, SUHF Executive Director Mr Ebenezer Akarah stated that the foundation’s programmes aim to reduce recidivism by improving inmates’ mental health, education, and access to opportunities both within and outside correctional centres.

He also commended the Nigerian Correctional Service for notable improvements in rehabilitation, inmate education, and institutional support over recent years.

The high-level forum brought together policymakers, security agencies, justice sector actors, development partners, academics, civil society organisations, and practitioners within the correctional value chain.

He emphasised that the annual seminar is designed to drive national dialogue on systemic gaps that continue to undermine inmate education, mental health, reintegration, and human rights, arguing that societal attitudes towards inmates must change, stressing that “going behind bars doesn’t make anyone less human.”

“One major issue is mental health. Our correctional system gives little attention to that area, so our foundation has focused on it since 2019, and we have recorded great improvements. This year, we set up tech centres at Suleja and Kuje Correctional Centres to provide inmates access to quality education even behind bars.

“Mental health is vital because talents exist even inside prison. People inside have higher expectations from society once they leave, but society often stigmatizes them. Anyone can be behind bars. Going behind bars doesn’t make you less human. Some speakers even suggested it can be an opportunity to reflect, rethink, and reintegrate properly into society.”

This year’s edition also featured the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SUHF and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), establishing a long-term partnership on prison welfare, monitoring, and rights-based interventions.

In her remarks, Professor Aishatu Yusha’u Armiyau, Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, observed that mental-health challenges in correctional centres remain severely underestimated.

Representing the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) President, she explained that many inmates enter facilities already struggling with mental-health issues, while others develop them due to isolation, trauma, or lack of family support.

She said; “Almost everyone there has a behavioural issue. Behaviour led them there. Many do not have mental illness but are under emotional and psychological strain.”

Having worked in correctional facilities for a decade, Armiyau called for full integration of psychiatric, emotional, and psychological support into daily correctional management. She commended SUHF for its continuous engagement and urged other partners to adopt similar commitments.

Also speaking, Magistrate Farida Ibrahim of the FCT Judiciary stressed that correctional reforms must prioritise rehabilitation, education, and partnerships to build safer communities. She said: “This theme is not only timely but crucial, because justice that punishes without transforming merely prepares people to return, not reform. True justice must balance accountability with empowerment, discipline with learning, and conviction with rehabilitation.

“For far too long, correctional conversations have focused on punishment alone. When we ignore rehabilitation, we weaken society; when we invest in it, we strengthen the nation.”