Project Efiase: A Catalyst For Prison Reforms

ASP James Annan, The Writer

23.06.2015 LISTEN

Project ‘Efiase’ is an initiative of the Prisons Service Council that is aimed at creating awareness of the deplorable prison conditions and to solicit the support of corporate institutions, consulates, religious bodies, and individuals to improve the state our prisons in the country. “Efiase” is the Akan word for prison.

The Ghana Prisons Service, as one of the institutions responsible for security and an essential component of the Criminal Justice System, is tasked with the mandate of ensuring safe custody, welfare, reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners.

Over the years, the Prisons Service has been faced with a couple of challenges which affect the smooth-running of the 43 prison establishments housing a total average inmates’ population of 14,500 across the country.

Some of the common challenges confronting the Service include inmates’ overcrowding, limited resources for infrastructural expansion, lack of healthcare facilities, shortage of medical drugs, low feeding rate of GH¢1.80p per inmate and other welfare issues, just to mention a few.

As part of concerted efforts aimed at addressing the challenges of the prisons, the Prisons Service Council has unveiled plans to launch Project Efiase, and a 10-year Strategic Development Plan for the Ghana Prisons Service on Tuesday, June 30, 2015, at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Accra.

Essentially, the rationale of Project Efiase is to touch the heart of ordinary Ghanaians, and the private sector to support the on-going prison reforms in the country. It’s welcoming news that His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama, has accepted an invitation from the Prisons Service Council to launch ‘Efiase’.

His Excellency is likely to make history as the first sitting Ghanaian president to visit the prisons. He has in principle accepted an invitation from the Prisons Council to visit some selected prisons in the country in July, 2015.

This project, if given the needed support, will go a long way to improve the state of our prisons and transform them into excellent centres of reformation, so as to meet the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs) as a country.

The recent documentary on prisons titled: “Locked and Forgotten” by Seth Kwame Boateng from the Multimedia Group (Joy TV), gives a clear picture about the deplorable state of Ghana’s prisons.

It is undisputable that the well-being of prisoners is the responsibility of government, but there is the need for society to contribute towards the reformation and rehabilitation of prison inmates. It is worth mentioning that prisons were built to serve the interest of society.

If prisoners complete their sentences unreformed, society will invariably suffer the consequences one way or the other. This is to say that correction is preferred to punitive in modern prison system.

In the United Kingdom, for instance, the community has impeccable passion to donate in support of transforming prison inmates. As a result, there are many charitable organisations in the UK that offer training, employment and financial assistance to ex-convicts.

However, it is important to acknowledge the government for its continued support to the prisons over the years. Since government’s subvention to the Ghana Prisons, alone, cannot meet all the demands of the Service, there is the need to appeal to NGOs, charitable organisations, corporate bodies, and individuals for assistance.

In this 21^st Century, imprisonment has taken a new dimension through the introduction of reformation and rehabilitation programmes, since crime is likened to a disease that needs to be treated.

At the moment, the prisons are holding convicts or suspects from all walks of life, and by accident anybody at all, regardless of one’s status, can find him or herself in prison.

There are many people in prison custody who need help. What is society doing to support these persons in jail? The Bible admonishes us to visit people in prison, so let’s demonstrate the love of God to those in incarceration.

If prisoners are well reformed and rehabilitated, that will facilitate their successful integration back into society; the citizenry can be assured of public safety; and crime rate will reduce to the barest minimum.

The crusade for non-custodial sentencing policy, as part of measures to decongest the country’s prisons, is long overdue. The stakeholders of the Administrative Justice System should expedite action towards the implementation of non-custodial penal code by the end of 2015, as scheduled.

Admittedly, people are thrown into prison for minor offences simply because there are not alternatives of imprisonment in Ghana, apart from the conventional custodial sentencing. A situation that accounts for congestion in the prisons.

Some of the country’s prisons like Nsawam, Kumasi, Sunyani, Sekondi, Tarkwa, and Tamale are excessively overcrowded, since these facilities accommodate more than 150% of the intended inmates’ capacity.

As a matter of fact, the passing into law of non-custodial sentences including community service, parole, probation, and fine, will alleviate the stigma attached to ex-convicts.

In the long run, this will prevent first and minor offenders from associating with hardened criminals who are likely to influence them negatively.

According to Henry Miller, a 20^th Century American writer, “The prisoner is not the one who has committed a crime, but the one who clings to his crime and lives it over and over”. In other words, every prisoner especially, first offenders need a second chance.

As a part of their corporate social responsibility, it’s high time that banks, telecommunication agencies, oil companies, private institutions, religious organisations, and embassies/consulates partner with the Ghana Prisons Service Council to roll out the Project ‘Efiase’ nationwide.

We don’t want to witness another disaster like the attempted jailbreak in Kumasi. “A stitch in time saves nine”, they say.

Security is everyone’s business, so let’s support Project ‘Efiase’ with our resources for improved conditions in Ghana’s prisons.

ASP James Annan
Head of Publications
Prisons Headquarters, Accra

PEOPLE ARE DUMPED IN PRISONS FOR MINOR OFFENCES