Jailbreak Recurrence as a New Security Threat in Nigeria

Nigeria Prisons Service is one of the three arms of the nation’s criminal justice system; the other two are the police and the courts. Prisons or jails are designed to accommodate any individual or group of people, male or female, found to have broken the law. However, inmates of such facilities sometimes forcefully free themselves from this confinement. This is referred to as jailbreak. Jailbreak has become a new form of threat to Nigeria’s internal security. This paper examined the emerging threat of jailbreak in Nigeria, the implications of this trend on the part of the prisoners, prison officials, other law enforcement agencies and thecommunitieswhere prisons are located. Synthesisedprimary and secondary sources of data were used including key informant interviews and literature. This paper concludes that embarking on prisons reforms as an option for checkmating jailbreaks and would make prisons officials more accountable than what is presently obtainable. Keywords: Human Rights, National Security, Jailbreak, Nigeria, Prisons