Specific information on hygienic conditions for detainees in Alagbon prison could not be found among the sources currently available to the Research Directorate. However, according to the book Behind the Wall: A Report on Prison Conditions in Nigeria and the Nigerian Prison System "sanitation conditions from prison to prison ... irrespective of their geographic location, exhibit a depressing consistency in painting a grim picture of grime and poor personal and environmental hygiene" (1991, 15). The book further reports, based on interviews with prisoners, that prisoners rarely wash more than once a week and "Awaiting Trial Persons" (ATPs) claimed that they did wash more than once or twice a month. The book attributes this to the "absence of water, especially in the urban prisons and the extremely limited time warders allowed inmates, especially the ATPs, to wash" (ibid., 16).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Civil Liberties Organisation. 1991. Behind the Wall: A Report on Prison Conditions in Nigeria and the Nigerian Prison System. Lagos: Civil Liberties Organisation Publication.

Africa Confidential [London]. Weekly.

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [London]. Monthly.

Amnesty International. 1997. Amnesty International Report 1997. New York: Amnesty International USA.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997. 1998.

Research Directorate Country Files 1996-1997 (Nigeria).

Human Rights Watch World Report. 1993-1995.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1993-1995.

News from Africa Watch [New York]. 1995, 1997.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, World News Connection (WNC).

Two oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.