Availability of Reformative Education Programmes for Prisoners in North West Nigeria

The study investigated the availability of reformative education programs for prisoners in northwest Nigeria. A descriptive survey was the adopted research design. The target population comprised the stakeholders (prison inmates, prison officials, lawyers, and human rights activists) from four states (Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, and Kano) northwest Nigeria. A total of 13 prisons, 1338 respondents (1068 inmates; 200 prison officials; 50 lawyers; and 20 human rights activists) were selected using multi-stage sampling. Four questionnaires designed by the researcher were used for data collection dedicating one questionnaire to each of the stakeholders. The validity of the instruments was ascertained using content and construct validity. The calculated value of Cronbach Alpha was 0.87. The data collected from the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The hypotheses were tested using chi-square. The findings of the study revealed that out of the five indicators of prisoners' reformative education, only one was available, that is, religious education. However, the other four, facilities, personnel, and reading materials; educational continuity and motivation; remedial and adult education, and vocational education were unavailable. The study recommended that prisons should be equipped with modern facilities for valuable reformative education. There should be training and retraining of prison personnel, and a well-stocked library with current and updated materials containing textbooks, periodicals and computers be provided in all prisons for the use of both inmates and prison officials, among others.


Introduction
Education acts as a catalyst for human development. In support of this contention, the United Nations' Rule 79 1 of the Standard Minimum Rules (SMR) says that Department of Education Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 provision shall be made for further education of all prisoners. Similarly, Rule 40 provides that every institution should have a library for the use of all categories of prisoners, adequately stocked with recreational books for the prisoners to be encouraged to make full use of it. Given the demands of time, Jovanić et al. (2019) claimed that modernity demands that educational opportunities should be equalized; this has led to the development of policies that facilitate the realization of guaranteed rights for all citizens in different countries. Different countries have developed their inclusive education versions, which can be broadened to include reformative education for prisoners as well.
The purpose of acquiring education, as viewed by Pathaneni (2020), is liberation from the negative feelings of greed, bad moods, and sadness. Indeed, education should be available to all sections of the society without any hindrance. Prisoners constitute a segment of the society which is deprived of the fulfillment of several basic needs to a considerable extent, and the development of personality through education is one of those needs. A study conducted by United Nations (2017) revealed that the increase in prison population worldwide is alarming; indeed, between 1998 and 2013, the world's population grew by 20% while the prison population grew by a staggering 25%. This figure represents an increase in global imprisonment rates, over the same period, from 136 to 144 per 100,000 people. The study established that prisons' success in education and training programs is usually counted in terms of reductions in recidivism; that is, prisoners' education not only raises the literacy rate but educated prisoners are less likely to re-offend.
The introduction of reformative education in prisons is not a new concept. Historically speaking, the first congress meeting of the International Commission on Criminal Justice and Penal Institutions was held in London in l872. The focus of the meeting was on reformative education for inmates. The same theme dominated three out of the 12 subsequent congress meetings organized by the International Commission (Jovanić et al., 2019). Gaes (2008) said that reformative education is an attempt by prisoners to make ample use of printed and written information to function well in the society so that they can achieve their goals and develop their knowledge and potential. Studies of correctional education have included the analyses of Adult Basic Education (ABE), General Education Development (GED) preparation and certification, college coursework, various forms of vocational training, apprenticeship training, and some combination of one or more of these programs during a prison spell.

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Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 As part of the efforts to provide reformative education, Pathaneni (2020) shared that Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in India has started offering free education to prisoners and has waived all sorts of fees, including admission, examination, and convocation fees for them. Indeed, for all the prisoners, self-instruction study materials are provided in their chosen language (English, Hindi, Marathi). Prisoners constituted 2.66% of IGNOU student population between 2013 and 2015. Similar is the case with Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan, which has been providing education to prisoners since the 1990s (Ahmad, 2019). In 2016, education for inmates was declared free and upgraded to include diverse subjects and disciplines (INP, 2019). In the same vein, , while explaining the modus operandi of introducing digital learning to prison, stated that Anadolu University ensures that its courses and programs are accessible to prisoners in Turkey. Moreover, Anadolu University also aims to use the latest technology to deliver its programs.
There are two types of reformative education programs popularly known as vocational training and literacy development. Vocational training focuses on acquiring skills that are directly transferable to a workplace, such as appliances' repair, welding, tailoring, and small scale entrepreneurship. Literacy development courses are based on the traditional classroom model centered on improving reading and math skills. Taib (2012) postulated that prison education could reduce future criminal activity through the impact of enhanced cognitive skills for behavioral changes, and participants can learn how to live a crime-free life by participating in educational courses. Aziz et al. (2017) opined that prisoners' education is not a simple issue; the functions of education in prison may mean different things to different people. The penal reformer may see it as a means of 'softening' a harsh regime. To the prison service staff, it may mean keeping prisoners occupied. Security staff in prison may see it as a risk, educationists may view it as a vocation, while for many prisoners, it can be one of the strategies adopted 'to pass the time.' Prison education program allows inmates to learn "pro-social norms" by providing an enclave removed from the "criminal subculture" predominant. Interacting with educators can familiarize inmates with the norms and beliefs that law-abiding citizens observe. At the same time, it also reduces the feeling of alienation that inmates tend to experience while in prison. The resulting improvement in social skills can make it easier for inmates to find and hold a job upon release, which in turn reduces their likelihood of re-offending or returning to crime (Taib, 2012;Jovanić, 2011;Jovanić et al., 2019).

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Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 International Crisis Group (2011) opined that reformative education is central to curbing rising crime and militancy, fixing a deteriorating criminal justice system, and enforcing the rule of law. A study was conducted by this organization based on extensive interviews with prison officials, police, lawyers, NGO staff, and human rights activists in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, and Quetta to identify the flaws in the system. The study concluded that an acute shortage of adequately trained personnel that can handle reformative education as well as that of disciplined and well-paid staff has led to a spike in crime within prison premises, including substance abuse and violence. Overcrowded facilities make it difficult to isolate hardened criminals from remand prisoners in Pakistan (Faizi et al., 2017).
Researchers (Allred et al., 2013;Martinovic et al., 2018) also recommended the student exchange from different universities to learn and collaborate with their inmate peers, thus increasing the feelings of freedom of space for the inmates (Jovanić et al., 2020). According to Gray et al. (2019), the UK is currently overseeing the expansion and development of partnerships so that communitybased students are brought together to learn alongside in-prison students. These are various styles of classroom knowledge exchange that encourage active participation and nurture the dynamic process of self-realization. Explaining what learning is all about, Ludlow et al. (2019) highlighted that an educational initiative aimed at building transformative learning communities by bringing students from conventional higher education and criminal justice organizations to learn together as a group and face-to-face in a prison environment. Different countries of the world have different ways of administering reformative education programs. For instance, Aliyu et al., (2016) opined that since the inception of prison service in Nigeria, there have been little or no systematic educational provisions for inmates due to limited resource allocation. Jovanić andassociates (2011, 2019) stated that reformative education in prison should be diversified, and should focus on training convicted prisoners. It will, in the end, enable them to earn an honest living in the community. It was concluded that inmates should learn writing, arithmetic, reading, drawing, and craft, so that they may acquire skills that help gain employment after jail term. Education should also be adapted to the immediate needs of inmates. Adeyeye (2019) viewed that Nigerian reformative education over the years characterized by some problems and has a dark history, which is attributable to the rationale for the inadequacies of the system to function well as a corrective institution. The Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) has since taken several practical UMT Education Review Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 steps towards enhancing reformative education. Among them is the educational collaboration of NPS with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Through its management, NOUN has established specialized study centers in some prisons. It has declared free education for prisoners as a part of its mission to become a pacesetter institution for educational access and delivery. It is also a part of her collaborative effort to support the government and NPS in their advocacy for widening educational access and helping prisoners to acquire formal education and improved quality of life after their release. This study is conducted to verify such claims. Gray et al. (2019) expressed that the theories of transformation in this context refer to the personal and individual transformation that occur and the wider societal, community, and institutional changes that can happen. Armstrong and Ludlow (2016) suggested that prisons should be brought to the community and the outside community to the jails. In other words, delivering education across walls, acts of broader social responsibility, societal awareness, and the acceptance of prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration is thereby enhanced. Talking about a university-prison partnership, Darke and Aresti (2016) posited that not only such programs provide an enriching educational experience; they also transcend social barriers and changes in ways that participants can view themselves and the world around them.
Another component of reformative education is the teaching of art education. Gardner (2020) explained that the California Arts-in-Corrections (AIC) program directed by the non-profit William James Association is the longest-running correctional arts program in the United States and has the most research behind it. Six studies of AIC saw its effectiveness in various ways, ranging from saving money and reducing recidivism to enhancing self-esteem and cultivating occupational skills. Pathaneni (2020) further noted that as part of its efforts towards providing quality reformative education, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) had established a network of Gyan Vani FM radio stations with a dedicated educational channel in different cities.
In another effort to democratize education for prisoners, IGNOU has set up 94 study centers in jails across India that offer a broad range of educational and vocational classes leading to degrees, free of charge. The university also works with inmates after their release to help them find employment. A high-tech prison opened in 2014 at Beveren Prison in Belgium, introduced flat-screen computers in every cell to help prisoners acclimate to technologies that developed during their time behind bars.

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Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 Where we witness extreme developments in prisoners' lives in western countries, the situation in the developing countries is still bleak. A study by Achakzai et al., (2015) exposed that there are no arrangements of formal or informal education for women prisoners or their accompanied children in Pakistani jails. Vocational training, books, and reading materials are lacking; however, counselling services are available to female prisoners through social welfare staff and the lady jailer. It was further established in the study that Baluchistan is the most conservative part of the country where the literacy rate of women is very low. Indeed, due to the lack of awareness about their rights, the jail staff exploits the female prisoners incarcerated in the province's jails. The inmates are hardly provided the amenities they are entitled to according to the jail manual. Maybe the situation is better for male inmates in Pakistan. A study by Aziz et al. (2017) revealed that 65.3% of respondents agreed that the facilities for reformative education are available, and prisoners are satisfied. Moreover, Latif et al., (2018) stated that most of the female inmates agreed that education is available for their children, thanks to NGOs and charity organizations, and they are satisfied with the quality of education. Shinji (2009) claimed that reformative education had become an obligation, especially for juveniles locked in jails. She reported the presence of 'Kiran libraries' for Pakistani children in prison. A study conducted on prison libraries in Turkey by Dilek and Demir (2014) demonstrated that 0.16% of the Turkish population resides in a correctional facility. At 142 per 100,000 of the national population, the imprisonment rate in Turkey is at about the mid-point worldwide, and the library remains open five days a week.
In a survey titled 'engaging prisoners in education: reducing risk and recidivism' in the United Kingdom, 81% of prisoner respondents claimed that they participated in the study to occupy their time and to escape monotony; moreover, 69% said that distance education helped them to cope with prison and 40% said that it helped a lot (Taylor, 2014;. Several researchers (Bumiller, 2013;Cavallaro, 2019;Ludlow et al., 2019) agree that higher levels of transformative education can transform some prisoners, making them more risk-averse. Prisoners who studied through distance learning acquired an enhanced cognitive ability and new pro-social thinking patterns, which gave them the ability to express themselves more effectively and negotiate agreed outcomes without having to resort to violence.
Moreover, student-tutor relationships were usually characterized by respect, understanding, care, and positive expectations, which reduced anti-social UMT Education Review Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 cognition and helped to build an anti-criminal identity. Thus, engaging in higher levels of reformative education provided powerful cognitive and social learning fundamental to the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model of rehabilitation. This model is particularly significant for prisoners serving a long term or with mental health issues. Though many prisons emphasize vocational education over higher education, which is mostly provided through distance learning, there are many benefits to be realized from engaging prisoners in this way .
Several researchers (Obioha, 2011;Ogundipe, 2008;Ore, 2006) have emphasized the need to educate prisoners since the majority of prisoners are unemployed prior to their incarceration. Education in Nigerian prisons is a tool for the restoration of these persons to the path of rectitude. Vocational education would enable them to acquire skills they can live on after their discharge from prison. NPS adopted the Adult and Remedial Education Programme (AREP) as a means of educating inmates, allowing them to reconnect with their educational needs and aspirations (Ogundipe, 2008). Obioha (2011) demonstrated that inmates are usually provided with Adult and Remedial Education Programmes (AREP) in Nigerian prisons regarding health and social welfare services. This section tries to identify the causes of the inmates' anti-social behavior and endeavors to set them on the road to reform through induced self-discovery, bringing inevitable change for the better. Explaining the aims of prison education, Ogbaka et al., (2017) summarily posited that there are three main objectives of prison education at the primary level, which cut across different views of the purpose of the criminal justice system. These include keeping inmates meaningfully busy, causing a change in their attitude and behavior, and opening up employment opportunities through vocational skills, further education, and training.
It is assumed that after serving jail term, an ex-prisoner would be transformed due to participation in reformative education and correctional training received in prison. However, ex-prisoners sometimes go about re-offending raising a lot of questions about the nature of education and training inmates receive in prison. It also raises doubt about whether facilities for education and training prisoners are designed and implemented for reintegration, resocialization, and remolding the behavior of the convicts. The life of an ex-convict is characterized by contempt, as well as the lack of companionship, belongingness, safety, love, and affection. There is an urgent need to investigate the programs meant for prisoners' transformation by designing and implementing effective reformative education Department of Education Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 programs. There is also a need to see and compare what is ideal and what is available regarding reformative education to the Nigerian inmates; doing so will help in the provision of possible ways to improve the country's prisons.

Statement of the Problem
This study is aimed to find out which reformative education programmes are available for prisoners in North West Nigeria and what could be the possible improvements in these programmes for prospective transformation of the prisoners.

Theoretical Framework
Social learning theory was postulated by Bandura (1925-to date). It combines cognitive learning theory (which posits that learning is influenced by psychological factors) and behavioral learning theory (which assumes that learning is based on responses to environmental stimuli). Bandura's model is further enhanced by four requirements for reformative learning: observation (environmental), retention (cognitive), reproduction (cognitive), and motivation (environmental and cognitive). This integrative approach to reformative education is known as the social learning theory. Bandura maintained that inmates' behavior could be reformed through the direct process of instruction as well as observational learning from the prison environment. Prisoners observe the happenings around them, and they also observe what people do. In every society, the learners are surrounded by many influential people (role models). It is of paramount importance to avail inmates' access to different types of models of reformative education for easy learning. Prison officials monitoring the inmates should respond to their change in behavior through reward or punishment.
Vicarious approval is where the inmate considers what happens to other people when deciding whether or not to copy somebody's behavior. The fundamental tenets of this theory are: 1) reformative education is not purely a behavior; instead, it is more of a cognitive process that can take place in a social context; 2) reformative education can take place by observing an action and following the consequences of that behavior, otherwise known as vicarious reinforcement (prisoners' parole); 3) reinforcement plays a vital role in learning but is not entirely responsible for learning; and 4) a learner is not and should not be a passive recipient of information.

Research Questions
1. Which reformative education programmes are available for prisoners in North West Nigeria?

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Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 2. How do stakeholders differ in their perceptions about the availability of reformative education programmes?

Methodology
The study is based on a descriptive survey. This research design was chosen because the population of the study is in hundreds and spreads across a large area. According to Issa (2004) and Bryman (2016), a survey study is a method associated with research situations where the research subjects can run into large numbers while spreading across a vast area. It has the main aim of seeking the opinion of individuals about a particular problem by selecting and studying samples chosen from the population to discover the relative incidence, distribution, and interrelation of sociological and psychological variables.
The study population comprised all the prison inmates, prison officials, lawyers, and human rights activists working in the prisons of northwest Nigeria (Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states). The target population comprised the stakeholders from the selected states (Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, and Kano). There are 47 prisons in these states. The population consisted of several distinct sub-groups, and there was a need for the representation of each stratum in the study (Ali, 2006). Hence, a stratified random sampling technique was used in the study to clearly define the composition of subjects at different levels of the population. Out of the seven states, four were selected randomly. Thirteen prisons were considered as sites for data collection because of their willingness to participate in the study. A total of 1,338 respondents (1,068 inmates, 200 prison officials, 50 lawyers, and 20 human rights activists) participated in the study. The total population of inmates in the sampled prisons in April 2017 was 3443. Out of this population, 1068 inmates were selected proportionately to respond to the instrument. Moreover, a total of 200 prison officials, 50 lawyers, and 20 human rights activists were sampled proportionately and were included in the study.
Four different types of questionnaires were used for data collection; one for prisoners, one for prison officials, one for lawyers/judges, and one for the human rights activists. The validity of the instruments was ascertained using content and face validity. To ensure the reliability of the instrument pilot test was conducted at the Afiagi prison in Kwara State, Nigeria. The reliability of the instrument was determined by measuring the internal consistency through Cronbach's alpha. The researcher personally visited all prisons sampled for the study. The data collected from the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Mean, and the standard deviation was calculated for the descriptive analysis. The hypotheses were tested Department of Education Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 using chi-square.The study is based on a descriptive survey. This research design was chosen because the population of the study is in hundreds and spreads across a large area. According to Issa (2004) and Bryman (2016), survey study is a method associated with research situations where the research subjects can run into large numbers while spreading across a vast area. It has the main aim of seeking the opinion of individuals about a particular problem by selecting and studying samples chosen from the population to discover the relative incidence, distribution and interrelation of sociological and psychological variables.

Demographic Information of Stakeholders
Percentage was used to describe personal information of the respondents and the outputs are shown below.

Figure 2
Chart Showing Percentage Distribution of Stakeholders According to States Figure 2 above explains the distribution of stakeholders according to their states. It shows that out of 1329 (100.0%) stakeholders that participated in this study, 531 (40.0%) were from Kano State, 143 (10.8%) were from Katsina, 489 (36.8%) were from Kaduna State, while 166 (12.5%) were from Jigawa State. It can be observed from the above figure that states like Kano and Kaduna had more stakeholders as compared to Jigawa and Katsina states. However, Katsina State had the smallest percentage of stakeholders that participated in this study. Figure 3 demonstrates the distribution of stakeholders according to their status. It shows that out of 1329 (100.0%) stakeholders that participated in this study, 1059 (79.7%) were prison inmates, 200 (15.0%) were prison officials, 50 (3.8%) were lawyers, while 20 (1.5%) were human rights activists. According to the above figure, most of the stakeholders that participated in this study were prison inmates, while the smallest percentage of stakeholders was human rights activists.  Table 1 shows the perception of stakeholders about the availability of reformative education programs in northwest Nigeria. According to Table 1, the assessment of inmates showed that out of the five indicators used for measuring reformation provisions in this study, the only one described as available by them was religious education (77.1%). In contrast, other indicators such as facilities, personnel, and reading materials (95.2%), educational continuity and motivation (99.8%), remedial and adult education (99.0%), and vocational education (94.1%) were not available.

Availability of Reformative Education Programmes for Prisoners in North West Nigeria
The assessment of prison officials toed the same line as that of the inmates. It was shown at their end that only religious education (100.0%) was available, whereas other indicators such as facilities, personnel and reading materials (100.0%), educational continuity and motivation (98.0%), remedial and adult education (100.0%) and vocational education (100.0%) were not available. Similarly, lawyers/judges reported religious education (86.0%) as available, while facilities, personnel and reading materials (100.0%), educational continuity and motivation (100.0%), remedial and adult education (100.0%), and vocational education (90.0%) were unavailable. Similarly, human rights activists described religious education (90.0%) as available; whereas facilities, personnel, and reading materials (100.0%), educational continuity and motivation (100.0%), remedial and adult education (100.0%), and vocational education (100.0%) as not available.  As depicted by the assessment results, religious education was the only available reformation provision for prisoners in northwest Nigeria. The other reformation provisions such as facilities, personnel and reading materials, educational continuity and motivation, remedial and adult education, and vocational education were unanimously described not available in the assessment of all the stakeholders, including the inmates themselves.

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Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020  Table 2 explains the relationship between stakeholders' status and their assessment about the availability of reformation programmes for prisoners in North West Nigeria. The reformation programmes' assessment included facilities, personnel and reading materials, educational continuity and motivation, remedial and adult education, religious education, and facilities for vocational education. Chi-square test result indicated that there exists a significant relationship between stakeholders' status and their assessment of the availability of the assessed welfare facilities, including facilities, personnel and reading materials (χ 2 (n = 1329) = 13.52, df = 3, p = .004), educational continuity and motivation (χ 2 (n = 1329) = 12.61, df = 3, p = .006), religious education (χ 2 (n = 1329) = 59.25, df = 3, p = .000), and facilities for vocational education (χ 2 (n = 1329) = 15.71, df = 3, p = .001). However, such a significant relationship could not be established between stakeholders' status and their assessment of the availability of remedial and adult education for inmates (χ 2 (n = 1329) = 2.83, df = 3, p = .419). This study concludes that there is a significant relationship between stakeholders' status and their assessment of the availability of reformation programmes such as facilities, personnel and reading materials, educational continuity and motivation, religious education, and facilities for vocational education. However, no significant relationship exists between stakeholders' status and their assessment of the availability of remedial and adult education for prisoners in North West Nigeria.

Discussion
Reformative education for prisoners is a matter of concern because it is not given due importance in many countries. Providing educational opportunities to prisoners should be the first step, and the second step should be creating an enabling and supportive environment for prisoners to educate themselves. This UMT Education Review Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 study's results lead to specific implications for Nigeria, such as the provision of free education for prisoners.
This study revealed that religious education was the most available program among the current programs in the prisons of northwest Nigeria with a mean value of 1.60 and an SD value of 0.16. This fact contradicts the findings of Achakzai et al. (2015). They researched with women prisoners in Pakistan and found that religious teachings were not a part of reformative education in female jails of Baluchistan, Pakistan. There is an ardent need of specialist teachers to handle the affairs of correctional education not only in Nigeria but all over the world (Faizi et al., 2017;Latif et al., 2018).
Vocational education is an aspect of reformative education; the former comprises courses on skills such as carpentry, welding, tailoring, barbering, electrical work, plumbing, knitting, soap making, and bricklaying leather works, block making, hairdressing, shoemaking, laundry, etc. This study found that such courses were available in the prisons of northwest Nigeria. Vocational courses were taught in Nigerian jails; however, NOUN teaches conventional courses, unlike IGNOU India (Pathaneni, 2020).
Many studies all over the world contradict the findings of this study. For instance, in northwest Nigerian prisoners are denied access to the internet and mobile phones due to security reasons. However, McCray (2015) contends that in Uruguay, inmates enjoy access to cybercafé. Moreover, they also learn trades such as plumbing, mechanics, and gardening. In the same vein, IGNOU in India offers restricted internet access to inmates who can purchase food and cigarettes through an online system and download a movie that is not the case with Nigerian prisons.
Corroborating this study is a study by Dilek and Demir (2014), which found that along with basic and vocational education, facilities such as libraries with ample reading materials, relevant textbooks, exercise books, and writing materials would add to increasing the motivation of prisoners. The modus operandi of taking digital learning to prison, as in the case of Anadolu University, Turkey shall ensure the availability of a variety of courses and programs to Nigerian inmates in a wide range of disciplines including jurisprudence, theology, human resource management, business, public administration, social services, and international relations.
McCray (2015) informed that the prisoners in Poland were put on a minimum wage; they were treated as salaried persons employed in social assistance Department of Education Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 foundations and other local charity organizations. They were allowed to take jobs through partnerships with local businesses that offered work inside prisons. On the contrary, in northwest Nigeria, inmates could only learn the trades but not earn any salary. Developing nations need to follow the example of Poland, which is indeed an additional challenge for developing countries like Nigeria.
McCray (2015) posited that prison officials should work with ex-convicts to find employment for them after release. It is an excellent rehabilitative step carried out in Slovenia and Ethiopia with the assistance of the International Labor Organization (ILO), providing microfinance and insurance loans to start cooperatives based on business ideas developed in prison. Such steps will contribute enormously in the reduction of recidivism and the full reintegration of ex-convicts into the mainstream society. This action would prove better than any other aftercare tool when prisoners have ended their term in jails.
It is explicit that developing countries like Nigeria are trying to teach inmates various courses inside prison; however, there is an imminent need to go beyond mere conventional teaching. Nigeria needs to take proper initiatives for transformative learning to build productive learning communities, as Ludlow et al. (2019) suggested. It is challenging to establish face to face learning programs for adult learners; hence, experimentation is needed to develop more information technology integrated programs for providing informal basic education. As suggested by Gray et al. (2019), in collaboration with international academic and criminal justice partners, a network can be built for mutual benefit. Such networks or professional learning communities help develop innovative pedagogies for inmates, suiting their individual and cultural context. However, the value of indigenous research cannot be undermined. Emulating advanced countries does not always work wonders, but setting high benchmarks puts one on the road to quality improvement.
Digital learning without internet facilities is not possible. If Nigeria wants to go by global best practices as far as reformative education is concerned, there is a need for the prison service to borrow from other countries, so that the objectives of reformation of the prisoners are realized. It is a fact that internet/intranet access facilitates learning; therefore, a computer lab with proper infrastructure, chairs and desks, computers, and trained teachers should be available to the inmates to get results as discussed by McCray (2015) and . Furthermore, FM radio stations with a dedicated educational channel can be established in key cities, as identified by Pathaneni (2020).

Conclusion
It is deduced from the results discussed above that religious education is the only available reformation education provision for prisoners in northwest Nigeria, as described by the participants. Unfortunately, other reformation provisions such as facilities, personnel and reading materials, educational continuity and motivation, remedial and adult education, and vocational education were unanimously described not available by the research participants, including the inmates themselves.
It is alarming that facilities meant for the educational reformation of the incarcerated persons were found unavailable to stakeholders involved in the reformation process. Reformation is the backbone of imprisonment; without provision of good reformative educational facilities, all may go waste, energy, and resources. These wasted efforts would be detrimental to society as well because they may lead to a high recidivism rate. One can safely conclude the Nigerian society may not realize that dream of well-reformed prisoners because the needed machinery is not in place; where available, it is grossly insufficient.

Recommendations
In view of the findings of this study it is recommended that • Prisons should be equipped with modern facilities for a good foundation/adequate provision of reformative education. • There should be training and retraining of prison personnel, so that they may live up to the expectation of the modern ways of handling inmates. • A well-stocked library with current and updated materials, including textbooks, periodicals, and computers, should be provided in all prisons for the use of both inmates and prison officials. • Inmates with outstanding performance should be rewarded with scholarships. Provision should also be made for inmates to continue with their studies after serving their jail terms. • Inmates with little or no educational background should be allowed to pursue adult and remedial classes while in prison. It will assist in reducing the rate of illiteracy and also recidivism. • Religious education teachers should be recruited along with the volunteers serving as spiritual teachers in prison. It will allow the infiltration of modern ways of teaching religious studies as in conventional schools.
• Workshops and laboratories should be well-equipped with tools and equipment needed for vocational training. When such strategies are wellutilized, they can become an income-generating source for the prisoners.

Epilogue
This study provides hope that there is a possibility of educational continuity and motivation in the study area. Items assessed under educational continuity and motivation included the availability of scholarship awards for outstanding prisoners, the option of completing a course after a jail term, distance learning education for inmates, private study at leisure time, and working tools for prisoners after release. Some of the items were not available at the time of the survey. Since then, NPS has taken several practical steps towards improving reformative education, such as the educational collaboration of NPS with NOUN. The latter has established specialized study centers in some prisons and has declared free education for prisoners as part of its mission to be a pacesetter institution for educational access and delivery in Nigeria.
In the postmodern world, conversations about incarceration and shifting rhetoric on punishment are continued (Brown & Schept, 2018). Such arguments advocate that the imprisonment of youth limits their cognitive and social development; therefore, alternate measures must be developed, limiting the deterioration of the effects of imprisonment on the personality and learning of future citizens (Schept, 2015;Simmons, 2017). It is hoped that the solutions recommended in this study would be incorporated into the Nigerian Prisons' governance system. Then the Nigerian prisoners shall also advance in their cognitive ability and opt for new pro-social thinking patterns, giving them the ability to express themselves more effectively and negotiate agreed with outcomes without having to resort to violence.