HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NIGERIAN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF UYO MEDIUM CUSTODIAL CENTRE

This study investigates the lived experience of health, safety and human dignity in Uyo Medium Custodial Centre, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, through an autoethnographic account of approximately ten months of involuntary custody as an awaiting-trial person who was subsequently discharged and acquitted. The study addresses a methodological gap in Nigerian correctional research, where existing evidence has largely been obtained through cross-sectional surveys, post-release interviews, external inspections and institutional reports, with comparatively limited longitudinal insider observation of everyday custodial practices. The study adopts qualitative autoethnography and participant observation, supported by simultaneous handwritten field notes, expanded post-release reflective notes, documentary analysis of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners otherwise called the Nelson Mandela Rules, and comparison with independent human-rights and extant correctional literature. Analysis employed three a priori domains of health, safety and freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment - while allowing inductive codes to emerge from the field material. Three interrelated themes emerged: systemic deficits in healthcare, sanitation, nutrition and mental-health provision; safety risks associated with overcrowding, inadequate classification, infrastructure and emergency preparedness; and everyday dignity deficits involving degrading communication, prolonged queues, restricted access to basic necessities and weakly visible complaint mechanisms. Contemporary independent evidence validates the severity of overcrowding at the facility. An official 2026 investigative-panel report recorded a capacity of 613 and a population of 1,895 at Uyo on 6 May 2025. The study concludes that the principal problem is not the absence of a legal and policy framework but a persistent implementation gap between statutory and international standards and everyday custodial practice. Recommendations are directed principally to the Nigerian Correctional Service, the Federal Ministry of Interior, the judiciary, the National Human Rights Commission, the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, State Criminal Justice Committees and other justice-sector stakeholders responsible for implementing the Nigerian Correctional Service Act. The study contributes rare longitudinal insider evidence to scholarship on human rights while in custody, correctional governance and the implementation of international prison standards in Nigeria