Abstract

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) is statutorily mandated to reform, rehabilitate, and reintegrate offenders, reflecting a shift from punitive to corrective justice. However, despite progressive reforms under the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019, rehabilitative outcomes remain limited due to the Service's overreliance on conventional tools such as sentence remission, education, vocational training, classification, and aftercare services. This paper adopts a doctrinal and comparative methodology to interrogate these mechanisms and argues for the integration of chromotherapy as a complementary correctional strategy grounded in behavioural science and therapeutic design. Drawing comparative insights from South Africa, Kenya and Ghana, the study highlights the growing adoption of environmental psychology and colour-based interventions in custodial reform. These countries have demonstrated that colour dynamics; through architectural design, light modulation, and visual stimuli can mitigate aggression, alleviate anxiety, and promote cognitive calmness among inmates. Such interventions align with the broader African trend towards humanised penal systems that balance deterrence with psychological rehabilitation. The paper contends that Nigeria's correctional jurisprudence must evolve beyond statutory formalism to embrace interdisciplinary innovations capable of producing measurable behavioural change. Integrating chromotherapy into correctional policy offers a low-cost, evidence-driven framework for improving inmate well-being, institutional safety, and reintegration prospects. It concludes that adopting this approach would situate Nigeria within a progressive African correctional paradigm that redefines correction as a process encompassing not only moral and vocational reformation, but also emotional and psychological renewal.