Nigeria has emerged as the country with the highest number of facilities ranked among Africa’s ten worst prisons, according to new assessments by rights organizations and international monitors.

Overcrowding, poor sanitation, gang violence and inadequate nutrition continue to define the country’s correctional system, raising concerns about human rights abuses and systemic neglect.

Across the continent, prisons are operating far beyond capacity. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that many African facilities are at 170 per cent occupancy, with colonial-era structures ill-suited to modern demands.

In Nigeria, the problem is acute: of 80,066 inmates in custody as of February 2025, more than 53,000 were awaiting trial, placing immense strain on correctional centres.

Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos leads Nigeria’s grim tally. Designed for 800 inmates, it now holds more than 2,500, where sewage-flooded cells, rampant gang violence and regular outbreaks of tuberculosis and malaria have earned it a reputation as a “hellhole.”

Port Harcourt Maximum Prison, with 4,000 inmates squeezed into space for 1,000, has also seen repeated riots and documented HIV transmission.

Other Nigerian facilities on the list include Agbor Prison in Delta State, where inmates sleep in shifts due to space shortages.

Owerri Medium Security Prison in Imo State, notorious for overcrowding since a 2021 mass jailbreak, and Kuje Prison near Abuja, where a 2022 ISIS-West Africa attack killed 20 inmates and exposed severe security gaps. Together, Nigeria accounts for five of Africa’s ten worst prisons.

The rest of the list spans the continent: Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where 10,000 inmates are crammed into facilities for 1,500; Chikurubi Maximum Prison in Zimbabwe, plagued by tuberculosis and abuse; Pollsmoor Prison in South Africa, overrun by gangs; Black Beach Prison in Equatorial Guinea, infamous for torture; and Kikuyu Maximum Prison in Kenya, where overcrowding and starvation remain persistent.

Nigeria’s correctional service spends N1,125 daily per inmate for food following a budgetary increase in January 2025. Yet rights advocates note that a single balanced meal costs at least N1,600, meaning chronic malnutrition remains unaddressed.

With 3,823 death row inmates, including 81 women, and thousands in prolonged pre-trial detention, the cost of sustaining the prison population has risen to N4.3 million daily for those on death row alone.

Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has pledged reforms, including decongestion drives and wider use of non-custodial sentences, but activists argue these steps remain insufficient.

International monitors warn that without urgent structural reforms, Nigerian prisons will continue to dominate rankings of the worst facilities on the continent.

Full list of Africa’s 10 worst prisons:

Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Nigeria

Makala Central Prison, DR Congo

Chikurubi Maximum Prison, Zimbabwe

Agbor Prison, Nigeria

Pollsmoor Prison, South Africa

Port Harcourt Maximum Prison, Nigeria

Black Beach Prison, Equatorial Guinea

Owerri Medium Security Prison, Nigeria

Kikuyu Maximum Prison, Kenya

Kuje Prison, Nigeria (The Guardian)