Maintenance management of prison facilities in South-West, Nigeria

Maintenance management optimises the use of available maintenance resources to improve and sustain the functions of facilities. This ensures that prison facilities provide a safe environment for its users and also create an environment that supports Nigerian prisons goals. As such, prison facilities are expected to meet certain minimum standards as prescribed by the United Nations in order to serve their purposes. However, Nigerian prison facilities are grossly inadequate to accommodate inmates, their condition being deplorable and dehumanising. Consequently, there is an urgent need to transform Nigerian prison facilities through maintenance management. The research thus investigates maintenance management of prison facilities in South-West Nigeria with a view to developing a framework that can assist prison maintenance staff to effectively realise maintenance objectives. The study assesses the conditions and factors that affect the maintenance management of the prison facilities. Further, it examines the maintenance management practices adopted for the maintenance of facilities as well as evaluating the performance of the prison facilities. The study is survey research and it adopts a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected using two sets of self-administered questionnaires on a census sample of 42 prison maintenance staff and a quota sample of 1094 prison non-maintenance staff across South-West, Nigeria. In addition, secondary data were also obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Prison Service. The survey had a response rate of 60% and 35% for prison maintenance and non-maintenance staff respectively. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools were employed. Results of the analysis indicated that there was no significant difference between the perception of prison maintenance and non-maintenance staff on the physical conditions of prison facilities. Results revealed critical factors affecting maintenance management of prison facilities as deterioration due to age of the facility, overcrowding, and inadequate training and development of staff among other factors. The study indicated inconsistency in the implementation of maintenance policies, maintenance planning and discrepancies in the frequency of use among the maintenance strategies. It was also found that the maintenance budget per inmate and performance of maintenance unit are not significantly correlated. Study indicated partial satisfaction for performance of prison facilities with significant agreement among prison non-maintenance staff. Also, study showed that the difference between expectations and perceived quality of maintenance services was statistically significant. In addition, the study developed a model predicting performance of prison facilities from the condition of prison facilities. A framework having basic components to guide prison maintenance staff was developed and this was validated using focus group discussions with maintenance management experts. The study confirmed the criticality of poor conditions in Nigerian prison facilities. The study suggests that, to improve the state of prison facilities, the Federal Government, the Nigerian Prison Service, Prison Works and Logistics Department, prison facilities users’ and Academia are to be an advocate for safe and decent prison facilities. Indeed, a proactive maintenance approach with emphasis on the logical phases of the developed maintenance management framework should be adopted in the maintenance of prison facilities.