A Call for Trauma-Informed Justice Reform in Nigeria: Breaking the Cycle of Substance Use, Mental Illness, and Incarceration
By Seye Omiyefa
Across Nigeria and many parts of the world, thousands of individuals, particularly youth and economically marginalized people, are trapped in a revolving door of arrest, incarceration, and reentry. Much of this cycle is driven not by criminal intent, but by untreated substance use disorders and unaddressed mental health challenges. This is not just a justice system crisis; it is a public health emergency.
In Nigerian correctional centers, recent reports show that nearly 70% of inmates are awaiting trial, often for petty offenses related to drug possession, public disturbances, or theft connected to survival. Many of these individuals are struggling with addiction, trauma, or untreated psychiatric conditions. Despite the passage of Nigeria’s Mental Health Act in 2023, a long-overdue replacement of the colonial-era Lunacy Act, access to comprehensive care within the criminal justice system remains deeply limited.
This mirrors a growing concern worldwide. In the United States, it is now well documented that jails and prisons have become de facto mental health institutions, housing more individuals with psychiatric conditions than hospitals. In both settings, the underlying issue is the same: systems that punish symptoms rather than treat root causes. Yet we know from research that there is a more effective way forward, trauma-informed care.
Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognizes how experiences of abuse, neglect, violence, and systemic failure shape individuals’ behavior. It avoids further harm by fostering healing rather than retraumatization. In correctional environments, it means designing programs, policies, and practices that uphold the dignity, autonomy, and humanity of every person. Studies by Levenson in 2017 and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) consistently show that this model reduces recidivism, improves psychological well-being, and enhances post-release reintegration.
When trauma-informed care is combined with evidence-based treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), incarcerated individuals can gain tools to manage stress, rebuild self-esteem, and develop coping skills. More importantly, when these therapies are delivered through multidisciplinary teams, social workers, psychologists, peer supporters, and medical professionals, people are more likely to find stable housing, secure employment, and reconnect with their families after release.
Unfortunately, Nigeria’s correctional health infrastructure remains poorly equipped to deliver this level of care. While agencies like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have launched preventive campaigns and drug treatment programs, the reality in many prisons and juvenile centers is overcrowding, underfunding, and stigma. Medical and mental health personnel are in short supply. Facilities like Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison have reported psychiatrist-to-inmate ratios of 1 to several thousand, making meaningful treatment almost impossible.
Worse still, trauma is often exacerbated by conditions within detention: abuse, poor sanitation, delays in legal processing, and the psychological toll of indefinite pre-trial detention. Without coordinated care or follow-up services after release, many individuals relapse into substance use or experience worsening mental health, leading them back into the system. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Countries like Ghana and Kenya have made progress by integrating trauma-informed approaches into community-based alternatives to incarceration. Ghana’s use of mental health courts and Kenya’s peer support networks show that rehabilitation and public safety are not opposing goals. Nigeria can learn from these models by building trauma-informed diversion programs that steer individuals with behavioral health conditions away from prison and toward treatment.
Policymakers and civil society must come together to transform our justice institutions into places of restoration. This involves training correctional and judicial staff on trauma-informed practices; developing screening and referral systems for mental health and substance use needs; expanding partnerships with community mental health organizations; Creating reentry programs that offer housing, therapy, vocational training, and family reunification services and allocating funding under the Mental Health Act specifically for incarcerated populations. Furthermore, legislation must prohibit practices that dehumanize or punish mental illness, such as prolonged solitary confinement, arbitrary detention, or forced detox without medical supervision. These practices are not only ineffective but violate human rights and exacerbate trauma.
Finally, Nigeria must not stand alone. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) offer guidelines for trauma-informed justice reform. Through cross-national collaboration, technical support, and funding partnerships, Nigeria can begin to align its justice system with global standards, while tailoring its response to the cultural, economic, and spiritual realities of its people.
As a clinician and policy advocate who has worked across both Nigerian and U.S. systems, I have seen firsthand the power of compassion-based interventions. I have also seen the cost of delay, families torn apart, youth criminalized for untreated trauma, and communities robbed of their future leaders.
Nigeria now has a rare opportunity. With the new Mental Health Act, the National Drug Control Master Plan, and growing international support, we can finally begin the shift from punishment to healing. We can build a justice system that doesn’t recycle pain, but transforms it. One that sees every individual, no matter their past, as worthy of a future. This is not only a moral imperative; it is also a public health necessity.
Let us invest in trauma-informed justice now, for the health of our people, the safety of our communities, and the soul of our nation.