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.