Nigeria Jails 52,000 Untried Inmates as Costs Mount

Nigeria’s correctional system held 80,812 inmates, including 51,955 who hadn’t been convicted of anything. That’s 64 per cent of the population, according to a Vanguard report published October 17, 2026. Another 24,913 had convictions, while 3,850 fell into other detention categories.

The numbers point to a system where the state locks people up long before proving its case. Overcrowding, prolonged pre-trial detention, ageing facilities, inadequate funding, security breaches, feeding problems, poor healthcare and corruption are straining the Nigeria Correctional Service, or NCoS. A federal investigative panel is examining allegations of corruption, abuse of power and human rights violations inside the institutions.

A Backlog That Keeps Growing

National Bureau of Statistics data show unsentenced inmates climbed from 47,610 in 2017 to 53,790 in the second quarter of 2025. Total inmate numbers rose from 69,946 to 81,710 over the same period. Nine years of drift. The courts haven’t caught up.

Justice-sector stakeholders blame slow investigations, late legal advice, inadequate representation for indigent defendants and repeated adjournments. People eventually discharged or acquitted can spend months or years behind bars before a judge decides their cases. On May 15, 2026, the ECOWAS Court of Justice found that prolonged detention of awaiting-trial inmates, and the overcrowding it produces, violated rights to liberty, dignity, fair hearing, presumption of innocence and trial within a reasonable time.

Money Spent, Money Missing

The fiscal picture is hard to square. In its 2025 budget performance, the NCoS said it spent ₦27.28 billion on inmate feeding, 71.7 percent of its overhead releases, yet still carried ₦10.75 billion in outstanding food-ration obligations. For 2026 it proposed ₦14.83 billion to feed an estimated 91,100 inmates at ₦1,125 per inmate per day. The federal panel recommended raising the daily feeding allowance from N750 to N3,000 after finding evidence of malnutrition and alleged abuses in feeding-contract administration. Correctional authorities denied systemic starvation and defended official arrangements.

Capital funding tells a harsher story. Of the ₦14.50 billion appropriated to the NCoS in 2025, officials released just ₦3.22 billion, or 22.2 per cent. That left ₦11.27 billion unreleased. For 2026 the Service proposed a total budget of ₦198.85 billion, with ₦138.30 billion for personnel and ₦50.40 billion for recurrent overhead, and requested an additional ₦90.38 billion in capital spending. It also listed ₦30.38 billion in promotion arrears and ₦25.16 billion owed to contractors.

Security Breaches and Contraband

The panel assessed 86 custodial facilities across 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory, flagging infrastructure deficits and security risks in Delta, Edo, Sokoto and Kaduna, among others. The House Committee on Reformatory Institutions warned that some facilities were built more than a century ago. Dilapidated walls, poor ventilation, obsolete security systems and weak perimeter protection add to the problem.

Allegations before the panel include torture, illegal inmate movements, drug trafficking, unauthorised visits and smuggling. An April report on its proceedings detailed claims that inmates ran businesses, including point-of-sale operations, with officials’ help. In May, the NCoS destroyed 1,167 confiscated mobile phones and other prohibited items, recovered ₦2.569 million in smuggled cash and sanctioned 147 officers for contraband-related infractions. In August, an inmate at Ibara Medium Custodial Centre in Abeokuta went live on TikTok using a banned phone. The Service removed the officer in charge and two other principal officers pending investigation.

Escapes continue. Sixteen inmates fled the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Keffi, Nasarawa State, in August 2025.

Rehabilitation on Paper

A 2019 law, now seven years old, turned the Nigerian Prisons Service into a correctional service built around reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration. It requires educational and vocational programmes, counselling, and opportunities for inmates to earn income. A 2026 study of medium-security facilities in Kwara State found vocational training fully functional in only one centre examined, while digital learning infrastructure was absent or broken in all three.

Non-custodial options remain thin. Figures reported in July showed only 1,271 Nigerians serving non-custodial sentences nationwide. The NCoS proposed ₦37.99 billion in 2026 to expand parole, probation and community service across the 774 local government areas.

Beyond the NCoS

The problem isn’t confined to correctional centres. In September, 37 suspected illegal miners died in Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps custody in Niger State, where 67 detainees were reportedly held in one cell. The government suspended 20 personnel and appointed a 10-member committee. The Nigerian Bar Association called for a transparent and independent investigation.

Why This Matters:

A justice system that detains people for years without trial carries real costs: taxpayers fund overcrowded cells, families lose earners, and the courts’ credibility suffers. The figures show money being spent on feeding and personnel while capital releases lag, suggesting the problem involves delivery and accountability as much as the budget’s size. The panel’s focus on procurement, contract administration and discipline points to where reform may have to start. Reducing the number of people entering custody through faster prosecutions, better legal representation and wider use of non-custodial sanctions could ease pressure more cheaply than building more cells. Until courts and prosecutors move faster, the bill keeps growing.