Institutionalization in Nigeria has not reduced the number of people brought into the formal system of social control but rather has produced a 'widening of the net'. Community-based corrections, pretrial diversion, increased use of open prisons, therapy, bail, probation, parole, compensation, discharge, binding over, suspended sentencing, furloughs, ombudsmen and personal recognizance, plus various forms of work and study release programs are advocated as alternatives or solutions to many of the problems of contemporary Nigerian corrections. Their small-scale, treatment-oriented approach, emphasis on employment and adjustment programs, and stress on greater accessibility are cited increasingly as reforms needed by a system now dominated by overcrowded, dehumanizing, degrading, criminogenic, repressive and highly expensive system of control. To achieve the needed depth of change, decarceration must become the primary focus of Nigerian corrections policy. The emphasis on decarceration does not mean that confinement will disappear, rather that its use will be bound by the criterion of last resort. A total of 47 references are given. (Author abstract modified)