BY: Dr. Olokooba S.M, Dr. Olatoke J.O. & Ijaiya N.O.A
Abstract
In 2007, the Amnesty International Research Team conducted a research on prisons condition in Nigeria. In their report, they described the situation in the Nigerian prisons as “appealing”. In 2010, a similar research on the constraints to the enforcement of prisoners rights in some states in the North-Central part of Nigeria was conducted by one of this writer in conjunction with other researchers from the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, and just like 2007, the result was also critical! From their findings, it was evident that, even though some sorts of rights are enshrined in both the Nigerian Constitution, as well as the Prisons Act, in reality, when it comes to the enforcement of those rights, the Nigerian prisoners are mere human being but without right! This paper therefore examines the various clogs that make the exercise of prisoners’ rights in Nigeria, a myth and proffers some practical solutions that can turn such myth to reality.
Keywords: Prisoners Right, Clogs, Myth, Nigerian Laws, Reality.