Family support and jail duration as correlates of recidivism among prison inmates of Agodi prison in Nigeria

Abstract

Re-offending is one of the major problems with ex- convicts and researches have been conducted to ascertain causes of re-offending among ex -offenders. Evidence is still needed on the influence of family support and jail duration on reoffending among ex prison inmates in Nigeria. The sample for this study is 200 (Two hundred) respondents who were purposively selected in a cross sectional survey among other inmates at Agodi prison. Results reveal that there is a significant inverse relationship between family support and criminal intent (r = -.32, p<0l), family support, family relationship quality and partner support jointly predicted criminal intent (R2 = 0.13, F (3,245) = 11.79, p < .01). The results further reveal that there is significant effect of length of sentence on criminal intent (F (3,246) = 6.57, p<.001), inmates with awaiting trial (short sentence) reported high criminal intent than awaiting trial. It was concluded that family support and jail duration influence re-offending among inmates and necessary recommendations were made