Reforming Prisons in Ghana

Prisons are places of incarceration and remains highly impermeable to the outside world. In most countries including Ghana, prisons and the condition in which the inmates live evokes little public debate and sympathy. The society views them as a condemned lot even though it is a fact that most prisons are composed of inmates, who have not been convicted in the court of law. Not many realise that unless the Government as well as the society at large takes the initiative in ensuring the general welfare of the prison population both during the time when they are incarcerated and also after by way of rehabilitation packages, there is a looming danger that instead of getting assimilated back into society after their release, many might actually take recourse to the very crime which incarcerated them there in the first place.

One major problem of Ghana’s prison system is overcrowding. For example Nsawam Medium Security Prison now holds 2,350 inmates instead of its capacity of 717. President Kufuor has described as “unfortunate the conditions in the country’s prisons, which are characterised by deterioration with overcrowding becoming a common feature.” In a report by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in 2002 it was stated that in Akuse prison, prisoners barely had enough space to lie down flat on the floor and complained of near suffocation during the night. The Kade Member of Parliament, Ofosu Asamoah has disclosed that in recent visit to the Akuse prison, he found that conditions were very terrible, adding that no one could stay there for the next five years and survive.

Overcrowding has a number of side effects and therefore on prisoners. Gambaga Prisons, the 2003 Prisons Service report found that inmates did not wash or shower for a month ‘due to lack of soap’, which resulted in a series of skin ailments which could have been easily avoided. Prisoners are expected to fend for themselves for minor and major ailments which in many cases is impossible to treat as most prisoners are from poor or deprived backgrounds. In addition they may have been shunned by friends and family because of the shame of imprisonment. Close proximity of prisoners means that contagious diseases, which could usually be contained very easily, rampage through the institution. Lack of basic medicines to treat common ailments adds to the misery and threat to life.

According to the 2002 Prisons Service Report, 125 prisoners in the country died from tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and anaemia. According to the United Nations Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners, sanitary installations should be provided to every prisoner to comply with the needs of nature when necessary and in a clean and decent manner. In addition, bathing and shower installations should also be provided so that every prisoner can have a bath or shower, as frequently as general hygiene demands, but at a minimum of once a week. The 1972 Prisoner Service Decree also states that every prisoner should be promptly supplied with all medicines, drugs, special diets or other things prescribed by a medical officer of health as necessary for the health of that prisoner.

What most people do not realise is that right to health is one of the most fundamental and basic of all human rights. Moreover, a person’s human rights cannot be denied because they have been sent to prison. People go to prison because they are awaiting trial for the most part and it is only a minority of the incarcerated who are convicted prisoners in any case. Convicts serving out their sentences are paying their debt to society. But it is not part of their sentence to be exposed to greater risk and life threatening situations. They have rights as much as anyone else except to the extent that these are curtailed by being held in prison. A prisoner loses his freedom of movement but not his right to health. This is not popularly understood and allows a degree of neglect to turn prisons into hazardous places from which weak, ill and embittered people return to society and once more become an unwitting danger to society’s well being.

The poor treatment of prisoners goes against international and African prison standards. The United Nation’s Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners serves as an international guideline on how to treat prisoners and therefore overlaps considerably with the 1972 Ghanaian Prisons Decree. This Decree cements what is outlined in the United Nations Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners by embedding it in Ghanaian law. These laws and guidelines are in place to ensure that every prisoner lives in dignity, health and cleanliness, with the assurance that they have been given a fair trial and have been entitled to all human rights, except the right to liberty which has been denied to them. However these standards have rarely been implemented. This lack of implementation coupled with inadequate funding for the Prisons Service have exacerbated the situation.

Any attempt to ameliorate these conditions has to be seen in the larger context of the criminal justice system. There are many ways in which prisons could be less crowded. In Ghana, as elsewhere, the police are far too anxious to arrest persons and keep them in remand. In this context, magistrates need to examine if bail provisions are being used to the optimum. There is too great a tolerance for adjournments and too little concern that prisoners are not being produced and examined on designated days for flimsy reasons. The excuse that transport or escorts are not available is unacceptable. If there are too many accused, the system must be responsive to those numbers. It is a grave indictment of the system that the very people it is meant to serve must suffer the injustices of its shortfalls. The courts must insist on timely production and effective hearings. This would happen if the agencies responsible for production of prisoners in court are held accountable and feel the consequences of not bringing a prisoner to the bar of the court. Equally, prosecution counsel must be held accountable for not being ready with materials that can take the case forward. Insisting on streamlining appearance provisions of parole for an early trial will assist in lightening the load of the prison administration by reducing the prison population. Again, there are also community sentences which can be used as a substitute for incarceration where the transgression is not dreadfully serious.

While conditions in prisons leave many inmates embittered, the absence of inadequate rehabilitation packages on their release from prison only compounds their trauma. In Ghana, there is hardly any rehabilitative programme for prisoners. In this context Ghana can draw inspiration from India where, a prominent packer and mover company has promised to open a placement cell on the Tihar jail campus and the company has agreed to hire 50 inmates every year. The jail authorities took inspiration from the Singapore Yellow Ribbon Society, a Non Government organisation that works for the ‘development of rehabilitation and reintegration activities’ for convicts. A similar scheme was also echoed by the Chairman of the Prisons Ministry, Mr Sam Okudzeto, who had recently stated that the top priority for government expenditure should be teaching inmates new skills and trade so that they can regain their sense of livelihood and earn a living once they are released.

Needless to say prison reform needs to be given more attention by both the Government and the society at large. Civil society and the media should come forward and educate the masses on the issue and thereby mount pressure on the Government to allocate resources as well make them understand the need for bringing about criminal justice reforms. Ghana’s government and people must learn that a welfare state is one which treats every living being with dignity, respect and provides every human being with a set of rights which he is entitled to whether he is outside or inside a Prison.