Imagine spending five years in a messy, overcrowded prison without ever being convicted of any crime. Your case is repeatedly adjourned because the police cannot produce a file or a vehicle to take you to court.
This is the reality for tens of thousands of Nigerians. The country’s prison system and, indeed, its entire criminal justice architecture, is crying out for urgent reform. This cannot wait any longer.
Tens of thousands of legally innocent people have spent years in detention under conditions that no civilised society should tolerate.
Official figures alone paint a disturbing picture.
In February 2026, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Nwakuche, stated that the country’s custodial centres held 80,812 inmates. Of that number, 51,955 (about 64 per cent) were awaiting trial. Only 24,913 had actually been convicted.
At that point, the number of awaiting-trial inmates had even risen by 1,252 within two months, from 50,703 in December 2025.
Other estimates suggest that the proportion of ATIs may be even higher.
The revelation by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, is even more stark. In July this year, he said that 93 per cent of inmates in Nigeria’s custodial centres were being held for offences under state laws, even though prisons are administered by the Federal Government.
Those inmates, he added, should not have been incarcerated in the first place!
The minister revealed that an audit carried out in 2023 found that about 4,000 inmates were imprisoned over fines and compensation orders of less than N500,000.
Those statistics reveal an unjust justice system. It should be overhauled forthwith.
Thousands remain behind bars simply because investigations were poorly conducted or their case files disappeared. Some others languish in squalid detention cells because the courts were overwhelmed, prosecutors were unprepared, or the police claimed they lacked vehicles to transport inmates to court.
Others remain incarcerated because they cannot satisfy unrealistic bail conditions requiring influential civil servants, military officers or wealthy individuals to stand as sureties. Some simply cannot pay relatively modest fines.
The result is that people presumed innocent spend months or years in overcrowded cells, only to receive acquittals or sentences shorter than the time they have already spent in detention.
This is absurd and inhuman. It is institutionalised injustice.
Conditions inside many correctional centres compound the tragedy.
Nigeria’s prisons were built for far fewer inmates than they currently hold. Overcrowding has become the norm rather than the exception.
Reports of inmates contracting tuberculosis and other communicable diseases have become commonplace.
Healthcare remains grossly inadequate. Nutrition is poor, sanitation is deplorable, and rehabilitation programmes are often either insufficient or absent.
This has dire consequences.
In 2022, at least 20 inmates died of pulmonary tuberculosis in a Katsina prison built in 1918. About 100 others were battling with the highly contagious disease, Premium Times reported.
The facilities officially called “correctional centres” are, in many instances, correcting very little.
The concept of modern prisons is to rehabilitate and educate convicted offenders, offer vocational training and reintegrate ex-offenders into society.
Yet many emerge from Nigerian prisons more traumatised, more desperate and sometimes more hardened than when they entered.
Instead of reducing crime, the system is reinforcing it.
To compound the horror, this weight of injustice often falls on the poor. Wealthy suspects, if ever arrested, secure experienced lawyers, satisfy bail conditions and obtain speedy hearings. Often, they walk away on legal technicalities or with plea bargains. The poor can’t afford such privileges and inordinate concessions. They rot in jail.
Citizens have reportedly also found themselves detained over allegations as trivial as insults or disputes that ought to have been resolved through civil remedies.
The Cybercrimes Act, too, despite its legitimate objectives of combating online crime, has also been weaponised against free speech and people involved in civil disputes.
Not every wrongdoing deserves imprisonment. Many minor offences should attract community service, probation, or fines proportionate to offenders’ financial capacity.
Decriminalising certain non-violent offences would significantly reduce prison congestion while allowing the criminal justice system to concentrate resources on violent crime, terrorism, organised criminal networks and other serious offences.
Several countries have demonstrated that humane prison conditions and effective criminal justice administration can coexist with public safety.
In Norway, rehabilitation is the central objective of imprisonment. That is why a relapse into criminal behaviour is rare in the country post-prison.
Finland and the Netherlands have also reduced prison populations through expanded use of non-custodial sentencing and efficient case management.
In Germany, inmates retain many basic rights and are prepared for successful reintegration into society rather than social exclusion.
None of these countries treats crime lightly. They simply recognise that degrading prisoners ultimately harms society itself.
Nigeria should learn from these experiences.
The entire criminal justice system reforms must begin immediately.
Special prison courts or designated judges should periodically sit within correctional centres to hear bail applications, review prolonged detentions and conclude cases involving awaiting-trial inmates.
Technology should facilitate virtual court appearances where appropriate. Case management systems must be digitised to eliminate missing files and unnecessary adjournments.
Police investigations should be completed before charges are filed except in exceptional circumstances, while legal aid services should receive greater funding to assist indigent defendants.
The constitutional anomaly whereby inmates charged under state laws are held almost entirely in federally managed custodial centres also deserves urgent attention. States should establish and manage their own custodial facilities, reducing pressure on federal institutions while improving accountability.
Equally important is improved funding. Correctional centres require better healthcare, nutrition, sanitation, vocational training and educational opportunities.
Allegations of corruption, diversion of inmates’ food and other welfare abuses must be thoroughly investigated and punished. Public funds allocated for inmate welfare should reach the intended beneficiaries.
The jailbreak at the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja, where terrorists attacked the facility and freed numerous inmates, exposed serious weaknesses in prison security. Modern surveillance technology, intelligence gathering and physical infrastructure must all be strengthened to prevent future breaches.
Tunji-Ojo has acknowledged many of these systemic failures. Recognition, however, must now give way to decisive action. Reform cannot remain a conference talking point while thousands continue to languish in degrading conditions.
The measure of any country is not only how it treats the innocent, but also how it treats those accused or convicted of breaking the law. Every prisoner remains a human being, and every suspect is innocent until proven guilty.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, contains provisions designed to reduce prolonged pretrial detention, but implementation remains poor in the country. This must change.
Nigeria’s criminal justice system demands bold, comprehensive reform that restores fairness, humanity and efficiency. Correctional centres should be centres of correction rather than dungeons of horror and despair.
Prison reform cannot wait any longer.
