The population of female inmates in Nigerian prisons is growing faster than that of male inmates, and Nigeria has only two women-only prisons out of a total of 241 facilities.
The higher growth rate among female inmates raises concerns because a very fast increasing female inmate population may predispose women more to overcrowding in mixed-gender facilities.
Overcrowded mixed-gender prisons come with varied concerns including lack of privacy, security, and gender-specific healthcare.
Adverse conditions as these may be detrimental to women’s mental and physical well-being and heighten their vulnerability to gender-based violence.
According to the 2023 social statistics report, the percentage growth rate of female inmates stood at 26.4% while the growth rate of men is less than half of that, at 12.7% in 2022.
In the same light, the percentage of female inmates in proportion to the total number of inmates in Nigeria has increased from 1.9% of the total inmate population in 2020 to 2.1% of the total inmate population in 2022.
Conversely, the percentage of male inmates decreased during the three-year period.