Making Available Library Information Resources for Utilisation and Reformation of Prison Inmates

Abstract

Nigerian prisons harbour offenders who have committed offences. These are mainly youths of great strength and high intelligence within the age bracket of 18-45 years. A study on availability and utilization of library information resources and psychological well-being was carried out among prison inmates with functional libraries in Ikoyi prison, Lagos and Ijebu-ode prison, Ijebu, Nigeria. The population of convicted prison inmates in the two prisons was 744 (513 prisoners from Ikoyi prison and 231from Ijebu prison). 305 inmates were sampled from Ikoyi prison and 138 from Ijebu-ode prison, totalling 443 (60%) of the study population. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents in the two prisons, and the 443 sample responded correctly to the questionnaire making it a 100% response rate. The study revealed that there is a poor rendition of library services in the prison library from the items tested, the mean scores obtained were weighted at 1.31 ≤ 2.00. The study also revealed unavailability of library information resources while the few available ones are under-utilized. Out of the 11 items tested, 9 items portrayed very poor utilisation rate, while the remaining two items; internet and video for personal development training and cassettes were not utilized at all. The paper, therefore, recommends that prison library should be equipped with relevant and updated information materials and library services be fully rendered in order to facilitate their rehabilitation and improve inmates reformation.

Keywords: Reformation, Information Resources, Availability, Utilization, Prison libraries, Inmates, Nigeria