This study examined lack of offender's guarantor as an impediment to non-custodial sentencing in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. The Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019 opened the door for probation, community service, parole and restorative justice as options outside imprisonment, yet the guarantor requirement attached to many of these options often stands as a quiet gatekeeper that decides who benefits and who does not. Using a descriptive survey design that combined quantitative and qualitative approaches, data were drawn from 217 correctional staff and offenders who completed a structured questionnaire and from 4 judicial officers and police officers who took part in in-depth interviews. A multiple regression analysis conducted on five items relating to guarantor availability produced a correlation coefficient of 0.291 and a coefficient of determination of 0.085, with the overall model reaching statistical significance, F(5, 211) = 10.27, p = .012. The absence of a credible guarantor (β = 0.24, p < .001), the unequal access this requirement creates for indigent offenders (β = 0.15, p = .011) and its standing as an administrative barrier (β = 0.19, p = .013) each significantly predicted non-custodial sentencing, so the null hypothesis was rejected. Judicial officers and police officers interviewed for the study confirmed that offenders without dependable guarantors are frequently remanded despite meeting every other condition for non-custodial placement. The study concluded that guarantor availability works as a real gate through which access to community-based correction passes in the Federal Capital Territory, and it recommended that courts and correctional authorities set up transparent guarantor assessment procedures that recognise credible institutional guarantors for offenders whose family networks are weak.