ReferencesCrime threatens everyone — citizens in western nations, and those in Third World countries like Nigeria, where the federal government is finding it to be an increasingly powerful adversary. How to stay the tide? It is my view that in Nigeria, at least, the federal government should focus on the reformation and rehabilitation of incarcerated criminals. Intellectual growth could play a significant role in that reform. That’s where prison libraries come in: an accessible, well–appointed library could make a difference in the intellectual rehabilitation of an inmate. But are prisoners qualified and willing to use prison libraries? Do they actually use them, and if not, why? Can any recommendations be made to improve the situation? To answer these questions, I prepared a questionnaire targeted at both prison officials and inmates; a description of the research and its findings follows.
Almost every prison in Nigeria has a library. For the purposes of this survey, I targeted the largest prison in each of the country’s three geographical regions: i.e. the Kaduna Central Prison (Northern), Enugu Prison (Eastern), and Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison (Western). Two short questionnaires were composed—one for the inmates, one for the prison officials. Questionnaire distribution was determined by random sampling, and data was analyzed using the statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
The research highlighted the fact that inmates are actually more educated than prison officials. About 24 percent of the inmates polled had earned advanced–level qualifications, compared to 6.7 percent of the officials. Survey results attributed a low level of education as represented by the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) to 50.8 percent of the officials; only 30.2 percent of inmates had this lower qualification. Taking the relatively high level of education represented by the prisoner population, the argument can be made that prison inmates in Nigeria possess the educational background to make use of a good prison library.
The desire is also there. Many prisoners throughout the world have expressed their yearnings toward reading; many have benefitted from the use of prison library resources. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, for example, “devoured books at such an amazing rate” [1] that for the 11 years he was in prison he was able to acquire chains of university degrees. Mugabe’s interest in reading was so insatiable, in fact, that writer David Smith was moved to comment, “It was the first time that I witnessed a person turning the nights into days. Mugabe would read and type throughout the night.” [2] President Jomo Kenyatta is also known to have read avidly, particularly when his brandy supply was cut off in prison.
So why don’t inmates make more use of prison libraries? According to the research, many of them (60 percent) simply are not allowed to use the facilities. A staggering 96.8 percent reported non–use due to the poor state of the resources. Other reasons for non–usage include inhuman prison conditions as assessed by both the officials (60.8 percent of those polled described conditions as bad/average) and the inmates (92 percent gave conditions a bad/average rating).
My conclusion is that not only are inmates educationally qualified to use the libraries, but also very willing to use them. I feel that if the quality and quantity of prison library resources were to be improved, and free access guaranteed, library use by inmates would rise. Herein follow my recommendations:
1. David Smith and Colin Simpson with Ian Davies, Mugabe (London: Sphere Books, 1981), pp. 54–57.
2. Op.cit., p. 54.
Benki S.H. Womboh is Senior Librarian of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria.
© 1995 Benki S.H. Womboh.
Citation
Womboh, S.H. Benki. “Reserach Summary: An Assessment of Nigerian Prison Libraries,” Third World Libraries, Volume 5, Number 2 (Spring 1995).