Built Environment for Rehabilitation: Case Studies of Selected Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres in Nigeria

Abstract

The character of the built environment of juvenile rehabilitation centres directly impacts on the outcome of the rehabilitation process. The design of such centres should ensure that young offenders who pass through them do not come out more disoriented and hardened. The built environment of juvenile rehabilitation centres should therefore portray rehabilitation rather than retribution. Juvenile rehabilitation centres in Nigeria are in poor conditions and have been described as decaying, and places of punishment. This study was therefore conducted to evaluate the built environment of selected juvenile rehabilitation centres in Nigeria through visual survey, and Likert scale questionnaires containing nine attitude statements. The data was analysed using descriptive account, descriptive statistics, and ANOVA. The result shows that the centres were largely positively perceived with respect to the provision of basic amenities, while aspects relating to the image and visual character of the centres were perceived negatively by majority of the respondents. This suggests a deficit in their design. The result of ANOVA shows that there is no significant difference between respondents of the three juvenile rehabilitation centres (BTIK, BTII and KHRCJ) on four attitude statement while significant differences were obtained on five statements. The character and image of the built environment of these centres needs to be improved in order to give them a more positive outlook which will in turn culminate in more positive outcomes for the young offenders.