PRISONERS IN GHANA, HOW ARE THEY REFORMED?

COMPLIED BY: Caleb Eghan with additional notes from Richard Quarshie

Ghanaians frequently use an old quotation from the Bible “Spear the rod and you spoil the child” whenever they want to or discipline an offender. In this case the acceptance for the establishment of the prisons to punish people who go against the law of the land.

Many human right activists have for years called for an improvement in our prisons, prison systems and the reform policies be improved. The prison is made up of all kinds of personalities one can think of. They may one way or the other find themselves in prison due to an unfortunate incident that calls for their incarceration.

The main reasons for the establishment of prisons is to reform such persons who may have done something inhuman and so on and to shape their psyche for a better life after they serve their due sentences or punishment.

Recently, Honourable Dan Abodakpi has also added his voice to the call for an improvement of facilities at the prisons to help inmate reform during their sentences. Mr. Dan Abodakpi, the incarcerated Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta who was handed a 10-year sentence by an Accra Fast Track High Court on February 5, 2007 for causing financial loss to the State said this when the leadership of the Parliament paid him a visit at Nsawam Medium Prison.

According to the MP who just realized the need for improvement in the prisons after being sentenced said lack of facilities such as information communication technology (ICT) which helps in keeping records of the inmates when they are brought to prison is non- existent, which eventually makes it difficult to identify prisoners who escape from custody.

Honourable Abodakpi is also said to have mentioned that the carpentry, tailoring and electrical workshops which were made to engage the inmates into some activities are all not functioning, thereby making life boring at the prison. The question is when did the Honourable realize that the prison was losing its reform policies due to the malfunctioning these facilities?

There is no doubt that the call of Honourable Abodakpi is good especially being an MP and experiencing what the prisoners are going through and the problems facing the prisons. The Keta MP’s call, which seems late, comes at a right time when Parliament had passed Transfer of Convicted Persons Bill during its last setting. Under the new law, Ghanaians convicted abroad will be brought to Ghana to serve their sentences upon application.

Already government is complaining of no money for the prisons to take its initial role of reforming the inmates but our leaders and representatives at the legislature are able to pass such a law when the real issues on the ground are not being tackled at the prisons. There is no money but we are able to collect monies for calendars for Ghana at 50 celebrations? , We have monies for presidential lawns and garden chairs but we don’t have money to reform Ghanaians in our prisons who also deserve human treatment huh?

Some few months ago Ghanaian highlife sensation Daasebre Gyamena was released from jail after being free of cocaine charges. This musician came out with a degree in music and mathematics from London. This shows us how effective the British are when it comes to reforming and enabling opportunities for inmates to have hope for the future.

The case of Ghana is very disturbing since the prisons are choked with inmates who sometimes have not being charged or have finished serving their sentence. These inmates also come out of prison unreformed because some of them do not have any skill to enable them to live comfortably after they are released. The inability and the inadequate resources for the prisons are mainly the catalyst for inmates returning back to prison after being released. If our knowledge on the conditions in the prisons is correct then why do we want to add more fuel to the already blazing fire by accommodating incarcerated Ghanaians on application from foreign prisons?

Recently, I paid a visit to the Nsawam medium security prisons and I didn’t like what I saw. There were alot of inmates there whose fate has not been decided yet. Most of them between the ages of 18-25 years have been remanded in custody between the period of 15-25 years without court hearing. And these guys are not living in a good condition in the prisons; no good sleeping places, over crowding in the cells and little or no washroom systems.

During my visit, I noticed that most of these boys in the prisons are able bodied men who can still do something for the society but are tucked away in the prisons on remand awaiting trial. I asked myself only one question; what happens if one is found innocent after spending twenty two years in remand custody? I guess you will be asking yourself the same question. The answer is obvious; they will definitely say SOCIETY HAS FAILD THEM and some will go back to crime. So what is the way forward for our prisoners?

I think the governments need to sit up to implement the necessary policies to help the prisons and the inmates since they are also Ghanaians. Our representatives in Parliament need to discuss this type of issues and stop the bias party politics they have being engaging themselves in every now and then.

2 Fast 2 Furious - The "Trotro" Experience

One cannot imagine how fast he or she could see her mobile phone snatched from them in a moving vehicle but this happened right before my very own eyes and it was so fast that at first I thought I was watching a movie but when i heard the lady sobbing two seats behind me, I realised it was a real situation.

It was a cold thursday night at about 10 pm when I got to the 'CIRCLE' trotro (bus station) feeling so tired and worked up for the day. The station looked deserted since most of the drivers and thier mates had closed for the day. Only a handful of drivers were around, though not all of them were willing to convey passengers to thier various destinations. We had to wait for some time before eventually, a bus came and decided to convery us to Adenta.

After boarding the bus and everyone was seated, the driver's mate started closing the windows of the bus. For those of us who were seated by the windows didn't know that what the mate was doing was for our own good but those loud-mouths started raining insults and abuses on the mate for closing the windows. The mate kept quiet and as the driver started the engine, some guys who were around the station started to direct the bus. The keep looking out for the driver whiles he reversed the bus and turn into the direction of the station's entrance. At the same monemt, a young man seated a seat in front of me and by the window had slightly opened his window to catch some cold fresh air whiles reading text messages on his cell phone. Suddenly, out of nowhere, and like the speed of light someone had snatched his mobile phone from him without warning. I could feel how he was feeling at that instant. It was like watching a movie where someone's bag is snatched and before he or she could start to shout, the person had disappeared. Just then the man started to hit his hand at the back of my seat both in shock and suprise. It was at that moment that some of us understood why the mate tried to close the windows in the first place.
The rest of the journey was full of suggestions to the young man and discussions about what had happened. Some said he should report to the police whilest others said he should try and forget about it. For some of us, we just continued our journey with sleep.

When the People turn their backs on you......

It is a very painful experience when the people around you begin to abandon you and turn their backs on you for one reason or the other. After reading this, you will come to understand why most of the time, I like to spend time by myself alone somewhere to reflect on certain decisions I have made and continue to make when it comes to the people around me or people I call my friends.

It has become an undisputed fact that the wise saying "NO MAN IS AN ISLAND AND NO MAN STANDS ALONE" and an African Proverb from Kaakyire Akosombo Nyantekyi's book, " THE ANCESTORAL SACRIFICE" says that " I AM BECAUSE WE ARE AND WE ARE BECAUSE I AM" has come a long way to prove that we are communal beings and therefore we need people around us in one way or another to survive. However it is very painful when these same people who are supposed to help you live in a community, try and make you feel happy and wanted are the same ones who turn to reject you and make you feel unwanted for maybe making a single mistake or saying something that might hurt them. They don't give you a chance to explain or defend yourself but they would demand a chance to defend whatever they did to you that was bad.

I have bitter experiences with people who I cared about, trusted and would do anything for. I couldn't believe that within a twinkle of an eye, I had lost that friendships I put my all to establish over the years. Sometimes I meet people who will tell me all sorts of things as in always going to be there for me when I need them but when they get what they want from me, they turn thier backs. Sometimes when I try to keep in touch, they make it seem like am trying to be a bother so nowadays, I have decided not to allow people to use me and I have also decideed to turn my back on those who turn thier backs on me.

Oh What a World

It is very good for we as people to just sit one day to reflect on our journey on earth. For me, once in a while, I avoid people, turn my phone off and just spend time with myself to reflect on all I have done and been through since I was born and all I just sigh and say Oh What a World.
I landed in this world on the 22nd of April, 1984 and since I landed from heaven( where I believe I came from), I have been through a series of adventure from crying on my mum's back to being dumped by a few pretty ladies I have dated for a short period of time that one can imagine.
As a young boy who was growing up I was very energetic in doing things. As I grew up, I always wanted to try out new things and I was not afraid to fail in whatever I was doing. I started life with a very big interest in art as in drawing and painting but as time passed by, I found out I had other talents too. I never had formal education on certain things yet, I could do them perfectly. I gained admission to senior high school at the age of 15 years and most if my family members didn't think I was going to at least come back from my first term or semester in one peace due to my size. I however had to use my survival instincts to dodge the seniors who always enjoyed molesting and bullying us and I was able to survive the first year of my secondary education and when I became a senior, I knew I had to make a difference by taking a different path when it came to the juniors. During school, I discovered I had the ability to operate computers thus earning me the name "COMPIUTER" as my nick name in school. This name overrode my real name and most of my mates back in the days till now still don't know my real name. This name has followed me to this day and that ability has developed so much so that even in my current school( African University College of Communication), I have been been branded as one of the guys who is good in computer operations. Despite all these twists and turns in my life, I am about to graduate to be a JOURNALIST meaning I am not going to major in IT or ARTS. That is just by the way.
All I want to say is that in this world, alot of things can change at any point in time and we as people must sit and think through our lives, try to correct the mistakes we have made and also try to make good decisions. This could go a long way to help shape our lives as human beings. We must also try to respect the people we meet because we don't know what the world holds for us.