Incarcerated individuals and education programmes in Nigeria: A task for social workers

Much is not known about education programmes for Nigerian incarcerated individuals. Consequently, different correctional institutions worldwide have different forms of correctional education offered to incarcerated individuals. Nigerian incarcerated individuals perceive that there are implementations of education programmes offered to them. However, little or nothing is known about how incarcerated individuals perceive these education programmes. To this end, this study ascertains the incarcerated individuals’ perception of education programmes as well as the expectations of social work profession in ensuring that incarcerated individuals in correctional institutions are provided with quality education. In-depth interviews involving 20 convicted incarcerated individuals from Owerri correctional centre were conducted. Thematic analysis was used in analyzing data generated for the study. Findings show that education programmes are available and essential, but the quality of the programme does not go down well with the incarcerated individuals. It also revealed that incarcerated individuals were not allowed to decide on the type of education programme to be involved in. To this end, their participation in the programme is jeopardized. The findings further revealed that little or nothing is known about social workers in prison education. Therefore, the inclusion of correctional social workers as an integral part of education programmes that aim to reform, rehabilitate and reintegrate incarcerated individuals becomes necessary.