FOREWORD
The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC by law, is the foremost Human Rights Promoter and Defender in the Nigerian Body Politic. In furtherance of her statutory mandate of promoting the Observance of Human Rights in the country, the Commission undertakes periodic examination of Prisons and other detention centers across the country in order to ensure that the activities undertaken in those places conform to the Human Rights laws of the Nation. Specifically the Commission is expected ''to visit prison, police cells and other places of detention in order to ascertain the condition thereof and make recommendations to the appropriate authorities''. It is in fulfilment of this mandate therefore, that the NHRC embarked on a nationwide Prison Audit Exercise for the year 2018. This exercise was undertaken in fulfillment of her duties of ensuring the full enjoyment of human rights by both the free and the incarcerated without discrimination. This Report is on that Prisons Audit.
The Prison will always be central to the evaluation of human rights observances in any modern Nation State It is the critical institution in the overall agenda of seeking to promote and protect fundamental human rights of people who are incarcerated in various facilities so as ensure they are treated in accordance with the UN Minimum Standard for the treatment of inmates in the prison. It is the application of the UN Standard Minimum Rules in these Audits that serve as benchmark and guidelines to spot and identify areas that need to be addressed in the overall agenda of prison reforms by the Government.
