The Ghana Prisons Service in Retrospect, Challenges and The Way Forward.

Secure prisons are essential to making our justice system an effective weapon against crime. When prisoners- convicted or awaiting trial are entrusted to your care, they must know and the public must know that they will remain there until they are legally discharged. The full contributions which prisons can make towards a permanent reduction in the county’s crime-rate lies also in the way in which they treat prisoners. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of both professionalism and respect for human rights.

• Nelson MANDELA, Former President, South Africa.

The penal system in Ghana has had a chequered history. Before the advent of colonialism, there were no formal prisons in Ghana. However, when the British built their forts in the then Gold Coast in the 1800s, they placed their administration in the hands of a Council of merchants headed by Capt. George Maclean. He exercised judicial authority over the forts and used a section of the Cape Coast Castle as a prison where debtors were possibly incarcerated. By 1850, there were prisons in four forts, holding a total of 129 prisoners who were kept in chains.

From 1875 the Prisons Department as it was then called was created as a unit and placed under the management and supervision of the Gold Coast Police Force. In 1916 the first legal document on prisons, the Prisons Ordinance was passed. Following from this, the Prison Department was separated from the Police Force and made an independent entity under the Civil Service.

The unsatisfactory state of the prisons and the need for reforms led to the enactment of a new Prisons Act, (Act 221). Its purpose was to transform the Prisons Department into a service. By 1^st January, 1964, the Prisons Department became autonomous and separated from the Civil Service and renamed the Ghana Prisons Service.

The Ghana Prisons Service is governed by statutes such as the 1992 Constitution, Prisons Service Decree 1972, NRCD 46, Prisons Standing Orders, 1960, Prisons Regulations L.I. 412/58, Prisons (Declaration of Prisons) Instrument, Prisons (Amendment) Regulation, 1970 (L.I), and Prisons Service Scheme of Service Administration. In addition to these, Standard Operating procedures, service orders and circulars issued by the Director- General Of Prisons are meant to inject efficiency and sanitize our operations and are therefore binding on prison personnel.

Vision
Like other corporate bodies, our vision is to transform the Ghana Prisons Service into an efficient Correctional Service operated by a highly trained, disciplined and motivated staff devoted to reforming and reinserting convicted offenders into their communities.

Mission Statement
As a key stakeholder of the Criminal Justice Administration in Ghana, we are committed to providing safe protection for the public through the safe custody, humane treatment, reformation, rehabilitation and reinsertion of inmates to make them productive and law-abiding. This is achieved through the application of sound international standards and best practices. We are guided by our cherished values of vigilance, humanity, fortitude, integrity and discipline.

Functions
The mandate of the Service is clearly spelt out in NRCD 46 of 1972 as follows:

• Safe custody of prisoners,
• Welfare of prisoners,
• Reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners,
• Safe protection of the public.

We perform other important functions such as participation in national ceremonial parades and provision of personnel for UN Peace-keeping Missions. Prison officers have been sent to various UN Missions as correction advisors to mentor and train prison officers in countries emerging from war so that their penal systems can be managed in line with best practices and universally accepted principles and standards.

There has been a radical change in the philosophy of imprisonment where prisons were hitherto used for the mere warehousing of prisoners to making them real centres of correction, reformation and rehabilitation. Every effort must be made to reclaim the prisoner for the good of society. Accordingly institutional programmes have been put in place to address the offending behavior of the prisoner and equip him with new attitudes, prosocial skills and trade or professional skills for success outside prison. These noble goals can only be achieved when prisoners are offered opportunities to develop their skills through vocational guidance and training, moral and formal education.

Apart from the loss of liberty which is incidental to imprisonment, most prisoners retain their basic human rights which cannot be compromised. Even though there are logistical and financial constraints, the Service has never reneged on its statutory mandate of meeting the welfare needs of inmates ( i.e health care, clothing, bedding, feeding, recreation, library facilities and useful work among others.).

In order to prepare prisoners for a successful reentry after their release from prison, inmates are given trade training in various vocations such as carpentry, shoemaking, basketry, weaving of kente and smock, soap making, tailoring and dressmaking, doormat making, bread baking, auto mechanics, electricals, livestock rearing, tie and dye batik, and modern methods of farming among others. Officers who are trained and very well experienced are in charge of the various professional workshops.

Assignment to the workshops is based on the prisoner’s previous experience, talent and interest. Trade tests are periodically conducted to evaluate and assess the progress of the trainees. They are registered to write external examinations in the various trades and those who qualify are issued certificates. Fourteen inmates at the Tamale Central Prisons have registered and written the NVTI exams in various trades and are awaiting results.

Formal and non-formal education has become an integral part of prison programmes and are meant to give the inmate a future. Junior and senior High School programmes are being vigorously pursued in most of our central prisons and the inmates are making steady progress.

Inmates who are stark illiterates have been enrolled for non-formal education to improve their literacy and numeracy skills.

Since we live in a modern technical society, ICT training has been incorporated into the training programmes of inmates. Interested inmates are enrolled and given training to make them computer literates.

The moral recovery of the inmates also receives serious attention in our prisons. Religious instruction and counseling services are rendered to deserving inmates most especially those who were admitted with sexual offences, and alcohol and drug addiction problems. These services are rendered by psychologists and religious leaders. The mentally ill are referred to the psychiatric hospitals for management.

It must be emphasized that the major aim of institutional programmes is to equip the inmates with employable skills that will enable them become self employed or have access to employment when they are released from prison. It is also to facilitate their successful reinsertion into their various communities as law-abiding and productive citizens capable of contributing their quota to national development.

Challenges and the way forward
One of the major problems of the Ghana Prisons Service is overcrowding. Most prisons are holding numbers that have exceeded their original capacities. The Tamale Central Prisons which is believed to have been built in 1914 with an initial capacity of 78 is currently holding over 300 inmates. The problem has been exacerbated by the rather large number of remand prisoners awaiting trial.

Apart from a few modern prisons, most prisons are colonial relics that have not been expanded or renovated since they were built.

The scope of sentencing disposals is quite narrow. Those available are fines, absolute and conditional discharge, juvenile probation, imprisonment and death. Community service orders, suspended sentences and adult probation are non-existent. Post sentence disposals include remission of sentences, presidential pardons and amnesties which are not enough to decongest the prisons. Neither parole nor half way houses exist. Bail terms are sometimes prohibitive to the extent that defendants are not able to benefit from it.

From the scenario painted above, it is strongly suggested that alternative sanctions to imprisonment be introduced and made functional to decongest the prisons.

Another problem facing the prisons is that most workshops for the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners are in a deplorable state and need to be revitalized to make them serve their real purpose. Equipment and tools are not only inadequate; they are obsolete and need to be replaced with new ones.

Prisoners’ education needs support. Funds are needed to procure teaching and learning materials; libraries need to be equipped with relevant text books to meet the needs of inmates.

Computers and their accessories are needed for the various ICT laboratories to make ICT learning available to interested inmates.

The agricultural programme of the Service is facing some setbacks as the tractors in use are old, rickety and frequently break down. This is hampering efforts in teaching the inmates modern techniques in farming. Prisoners can grow their own vegetables and food crops to complement what government provides. What is therefore needed is the provision of tools and equipment as well as land to breathe new life into the agricultural component of our stratagem.

Some prisons are in a dilapidated state and would require funding for their renovation and rehabilitation.

The Service is also contending with accommodation challenges. Some of the buildings that houses officers are old and weak, thus making them death traps. Inadequate accommodation has become a significant feature of prison barracks as officers’ belongings and other personal effects can be seen on the verandas of their apartments.

Officers occupying rented quarters are constantly harassed with threats of ejection from landlords/ladies for unpaid rent which the Service has failed to provide due to dwindling budgetary allocations.

We have transport challenges; at the Tamale Central Prisons for instance, there is only one vehicle, the commander’s own which he shares with over 300 prisoners especially when they are sick and have to be transported to hospital to receive medical attention.

Prisoners’ health care is under constant threat as our clinics lack basic medical equipment, essential drugs and other medical supplies. Unlike our sister security services like the police and military who have hospitals, the Prisons Service has none.

Human resource development is critical to the success of every organization. There is only one institution, the Prison Officers Training School in Accra, that handles the training of officers in the junior category. There is the need for a staff college for the training of senior members of the service.

The challenges enumerated above are overwhelming; the government cannot do it alone. In a desperate effort to improve conditions for prisoners and prison officers, the Prison Service Council under its dynamic and visionary chairman, Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam, has plans to launch a long term fund raising project dubbed ‘Efiase’ to solicit support either in cash or kind from the corporate world, civil society organizations, Faith Based Organizations, local and international NGOs and public spirited individuals and philanthropists. The project is in support of our ten years Strategic Development Plan.

By this article I am making a humble appeal to the public to donate generously either in cash or kind to assist the Prisons Service fulfill its statutory role of providing safe protection for the public through its safe custodial role, the reformation, rehabilitation and social reintegration of discharged inmates when the project is launched.

The public can help sustain the Prisons Service by taking advantage of our experienced artisans, other trade professionals and cheap labour and award contracts such as the sewing of school uniforms, uniforms of private security organizations, road and building construction projects among others. The cleaning of markets, desilting of drains, sweeping of streets and collection of refuse is another area that can be undertaken by the Prisons Service.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the public can partner with the Prisons Service in creating facilities and a conducive environment that addresses the critical needs of the Service. When prisoners are offered opportunities and become properly trained, they can make significant and positive contributions to the national development efforts after serving their terms of imprisonment. We need retooling which deserves the support of all and sundry. All stakeholders should make a commitment to assist the Ghana Prisons Service in the discharge of its statutory functions.

The government should give serious consideration to improving the working conditions of prison officers to motivate them to give of their best. For instance government can build new barracks to house the officers and their families and procure new vehicles to improve the transportation situation. We ask for reasonable parity in terms of salaries and other welfare packages since our work is as difficult as the work of the other role players in the Criminal Justice System.

Abundant Robert Kwodam AWOLUGUTU
( Correction Officer, Priest and Author).
Tamale Central Prisons. N/R.
Email: [email protected] ; Cell: 0208 455 296.