Veritatis Gaudium: Multidisciplinary Journal of Postgraduate Studies

Crime and punishment constituted fundamental instruments through which British colonial authority was established, consolidated, and sustained in Nigeria between 1861 and 1968. Although existing scholarship has examined aspects of colonial policing, criminal law, and prison administration, relatively few studies have integrated indigenous justice systems, colonial legal transformations, penal administration, and the transition to post-colonial prison governance within a single historical analysis. This study addresses this gap by examining the evolution of crime and punishment in Nigeria from the annexation of Lagos in 1861 to the integration of the prison system in 1968. The study is anchored on the Governance theory, which explains how criminal law, policing, and penal institutions functioned as instruments of colonial administration, political control, and state authority. It adopted the historical research method, relying on qualitative analysis of archival records, colonial government reports, prison and judicial records, official gazettes, newspapers, oral interviews, and relevant secondary sources. The findings reveal that the colonial criminal justice system functioned not only to maintain public order but also to consolidate political authority, enforce taxation, regulate labour, exploit convict labour, and suppress indigenous resistance. Although rehabilitation and inmate welfare received greater attention during the late colonial period, colonial penal structures, legal philosophies, and administrative practices largely persisted after independence. The study concludes that many contemporary challenges confronting Nigeria's criminal justice and correctional systems have their roots in colonial penal administration. It recommends comprehensive legal, institutional, and administrative reforms aimed at strengthening justice delivery, correctional rehabilitation, and the protection of human rights.

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