DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PRISON REGISTRY SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the Study

The emergence and development of the internet, computers and other information technology resources in every little way affected human lives. It has greatly eased the way we do business, run our government and manage corporate data given the efficiency of the system

A prison or jail is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of dividends of freedom under the authority of the State as a form of punishment. The most common use of prisons is as part of a criminal justice system, in which individuals officially charged with or convicted of crimes are confined to a jail or prison until they are either brought to trial to determine their guilt or complete the period of incarceration they were sentenced to after being found guilty at their trial. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison, 2016/04/02)

We’re all our own prisons, we are each all our own wardens and we do our own time. I can’t judge anyone else (Charles, 1990). What other people do is not really my affair unless they approach me with it. Prison is in your mind. Can’t you see I’m free?

The general state of prison services in Nigeria has continued to be a matter begging for urgent attention. There is a great communication gap between the Nigerian public and the prison inmates as well as the prison authorities. The prison is just one of a number of sanctions available to the courts to deal with criminals. It is supposed to be a place where criminals are reformed but today, it has not always been the case as a result of ineffective administration.

Considering the administrative problems posed by the ineffective and manually oriented system of information management in our society, this project is written to develop a computer based prison management system with the objective of providing an enhanced and effective prison services that will also make for quick and effective management.

The Nigerian Prison Services, Amawbia, Anambra State is an organization that offers a variety of security and rehabilitative services to the public. It is a place where people are held before trials or while awaiting punishment of any convicted crime. However, it has the basic objective of ensuring restraint and custody of individual accused or convicted of violating the laws of the land.

The effectiveness and efficiency of any system depends on its mode of operation. The process of admission begins with the scrutiny of the convicts’ remand warrant which spells out the place of conviction, mode of admission, duration n of sentence among other things. Then the generation of useful and important particulars such as the criminal’s general particulars, particulars of crime and conviction, medical condition of prisoner on admission etc. As soon as a prisoner is admitted, the reformatory process begins and finally, the mental and physical assessment, issuance of certificate of reform and other, minor welfare activities of the prison from the start of the prison sentence through the discharge process.

Considering the nature of the security of the Nigerian prisons, it’s of a busy and sensitive nature, yet the process of executing daily tasks and activities can be said to be almost manual or little computer based. Unfortunately, manual procedures bring about delays and reduction in one’s output.

Also, the sensitive information to be generated from the available data cannot be optimally used due to these sluggish and redundant manual practices. All of these processes contribute to the dwindling nature of the Nigerian prison services. Nevertheless, this project is being designed to tackle these problems.

• Statement of the Problem

The inefficiency, man-hour/man-power loss due to the use of manual systems in running our prisons informed this study. The process in the current system experiences some weakness as regards information management. Challenges such as improper handling of sensitive information, data insecurity, mutilation of prisoner’s record, prisoners over stay due to inconsistency in their records, de-centralized repository for storing information of suspects, poor identification and verification are all setbacks, that motivated us to embark on this study, with aim of improving in or reducing them to the barest minimum.

1.3       Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this research is to design and develop a computer based system for prisons inmates’ registration, verification and subsequent identification. The aim of the new system will be achieved following the following objectives:

1. Enable creation of individual prison inmate’s account and storing information in a centralized database.
2. Allocate a unique identification to each inmate to avoid duplication records.
3. Provide a secure login authentication system for only authorized administrators
4. Enable inmate’s identification using their unique identification number

1.4       Significance of the Study

Advancement in the field of information and communication technology has in no little measure improved every aspect of the human life. This new system when implemented in the prisons will:

1. Increase efficiency and reduce manual effort
2. Save time and cost involved in the inmates documentation
3. Provide reliability in prisons system, by keeping accurate time and date records of inmates to avoid over stay

1.5       Scope of the Study

This study will be focusing on the design and implementation of a computerized prison inmate registration and identification system for the Nigerian Prison Services, Amawbia, Anambra State. This system will be implemented to take over the traditional file based inmate documentation and identification, alongside providing effectual report to management in authorities.

1.6       Limitations of the Study

Some limitations encountered during this research include.

1. Unavailability of resource persons to assist in gathering the needed tools and facilities as at the time of the research.
2. Limited time in the gathering of facts and findings.
3. Insufficient funds.
4. Insufficient Local literature and/or resources.
5. The inability of the staff and management of the Prisons to properly understand what they want.
6. Financial constraint on the part of the researcher
7. Computer illiteracy amongst the members of staff of the Nigerian Prisons
8. Limited time duration for the research and execution of the project

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