By Abundant Robert K. AWOLUGUTU
Deputy Director of Prisons; Regional Commander for Northern Region and OIC Tamale Central Prison
The Ghana Prisons Service as a social control agency is mandated under the constitution to provide safe protection for the public by keeping law-breakers, convicts and remands in lawful custody. The Service is also to provide facilities for the reformation, rehabilitation and social reintegration of prison inmates. These policy objectives are pursued within the context of our cherished values of humanity, vigilance, fortitude, discipline and integrity.
The Prisons Service is bedevilled with numerous challenges that are militating against the attainment of these noble objectives; they include overcrowding, poor and inadequate reformation and rehabilitation facilities, low feeding rate for inmates (the current rate is GHC1.80 per prisoner per day), frequent threats by food contractors to stop supplies as a result of huge unpaid bills, lack of logistics, infirmaries without essential drugs, basic medical equipment and supplies, lack of suitable accommodation for officers and their families, frequent threats of ejection of officers by landlords/landladies over unpaid rent, inadequate facilities for staff training and development, low salaries and inadequate welfare schemes for officers, shortage of personnel as recruitment has not been done over the last few years among others.
The aforementioned challenges did not manifest overnight; successive governments did not pay serious attention to the plight of the Prisons Service. Budgetary allocations to the Service have always been slashed and this has been the case over the years.
Our penal system is supposed to be managed in line with universally accepted standards and best practices, but the above difficulties are hampering efforts in this direction.
The Prisons Service Council, the constitutional body tasked with managing the penal system and the Ghana Prisons Service has decided to take the bull by the horns with a resolve to salvage the service and give it a new look and a new lease of life.
The Council has visited some correctional facilities to ascertain how the system is operating and whether this is in conformity with the UN Minimum Standards for the Treatment of Prisoners. Sad to note, conditions in our prisons have been found appalling. There are no toiletries like soap and disinfectants to promote cleanliness.
The Council had broad consultations with other stakeholders with a view to addressing some of the critical needs of the Service, for instance decongesting the prisons.
The Prisons Service Council under its able chairman Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam has initiated a long-term fundraising project dubbed ‘Efiase’ which will be unveiled on 26 June, 2015. The philosophy behind this project is that when you are sick, sell your sickness and you will most likely get a cure.
This project together with our Ten Year Strategic Plan will be launched by H.E. President John Dramani Mahama who wants a new and vibrant Prisons Service that is capable of fulfilling its statutory obligations to society.
The purpose of Project Efiase is to mobilize resources either in cash or kind from the corporate world, philanthropists, civil society organizations, Community Based Organizations, Faith Based Organizations, local and international NGOs etc. in order to revitalize the service.
The project also aims at creating awareness about the role of the Prisons Service, diffuse the wrong perceptions the public has about the service and the benefits society stands to gain if the service is transformed and well run with everybody’s support.
During the launching, there will be an exhibition of prison products from our professional workshops.
Project Efiase is part of our strategy to rebrand the Service and make it financially self sustaining and more responsive to the changing needs of society.
It is also meant to improve the conditions under which prisoners live and prisons officers work.
In conclusion, the Ghana Prisons Service needs massive doses of resources in order to fulfill its statutory mandate of providing public protection through the safe custody, welfare, reformation, rehabilitation and social reintegration of prison inmates. Public spirited individuals, corporate bodies, civil society organizations and NGOs should donate generously to make project Efiase successful. People should bear in mind that as a result of the competing demands on the national purse, government cannot do it alone. All and sundry should therefore support the Prisons Service to deliver on its mandate.
PROJECT EFIASE 