There is no question that Ghana’s Prisons need a major facelift. In the past, Ghanaians have been exposed to images of prison inmates cramped into small spaces due to overcrowding.
Images of 30 or more inmates sleeping in a space designed for 10 persons can simply be described as “inhuman”.
A 2011 report by Amnesty International put a spotlight on this issue, describing prison overcrowding as a matter of human rights violations.
Over the years, the prevalence of congestion in Ghana’s prisons has not been fully addressed. In 2018, former President Akuffo Addo pledged to construct a new 2000-capacity prison at Nsawam to deal with inmate congestion.
That promise, however, was unfulfilled during his tenure.
With a new government administration led by President John Mahama, prison congestion became a trending topic.
The Mahama administration appointed Muhammed Muntaka Mubarak as Minister of Interior to oversee the operations of several institutions under the Ministry.
One of those institutions includes the Ghana Prisons.
During his vetting process, Mr Mubarak proposed a solution for decongesting prisons: A Public-Private Partnership to help construct private prisons.
“We need to also be exploring public-private partnerships,” he said during his vetting process.
“I know that most prisons in America are private. People build a prison, and the government rents it as a way of decongesting while ensuring all security concerns are addressed..”, he added.
Although the use of private prisons may sound like a logical idea, it should not be considered a solution due to several controversies from different case studies around the world.
Those controversies include inmate exploitation and overall costs.
The Minister should instead consider other solutions such as prison reforms. These reforms would take a critical look at how prisoners are sentenced and remanded into prison custody as well as consider other means of punishment including community service sentencing.
Current State of Ghana Prisons
Ghana currently has 46 prison facilities nationwide. These include 12 major male prisons and 7 major female prisons. All these facilities are financed and managed by the central government.
According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the Ghana Prison Service was provided about GHS 65,384,628 (~$4.2 million) for its operations in 2024.
The funds cover expenses including payment of personnel salary and administrative costs.
Over the years, Ghana’s prisons have had major issues with overpopulation.
The prisons have authorized space for a total of 10,265 inmates. However, the Ghana prison population has about 13,996 inmates, exceeding capacity by 3,728.
This has put a strain on the operations of the Ghana Prison Service. The Minister of Interior noted in his vetting that prison inmates have a feeding allowance of GHC 1.80.
“I was shocked when I heard that the rationing for feeding a prisoner in Ghana is GH¢1.80 for the whole day,” he said.
Most would share in the Minister’s sentiments about the poor state of feeding for prison inmates.
However, his solution of using a public-private partnership to rectify the situation should not be fully entertained.
There is the question of whether a country like Ghana, still recovering from economic hardships, could be able to foot the bill for a private prison in the short term.
Costs and Profit Incentives for Private Prisons
Private prisons are correctional facilities operated by private companies rather than government entities.
Typically, governments contract companies to house inmates and manage all prison operations with payment arrangements disbursed on a per-inmate or per-bed basis.
Although private prisons have been utilized in several countries like the US and Australia, there have been many issues concerned with profit over quality as well as collusion to increase incarceration rates.
There has been evidence that private prison operators in the US lobbied for harsher sentencing laws and policies that disproportionately target marginalized communities.
High costs should be a factor in whether Ghana should consider establishing private prisons.
A report released in 2020 stated that US states pay $1.9 to $10.6 million per year for housing inmates in private prisons.
There is the question of whether a country like Ghana, still recovering from economic hardships, could be able to foot the bill for a private prison in the short term.
There is also the argument about the profit motive for private prisons. Private entities prioritize revenue, so they largely avoid educational or vocational programs for inmates to protect profit margins.
Private Prisons Could Decongest Prisons In The Short-Term
There are some arguments to be made for outsourcing prison operations to a private entity. The government could negotiate a payment plan for the construction and management of a private prison.
A deal could be struck to house inmates from overcrowded prisons, which could lead to less strain on the operations of the Ghana Prisons Service.
This could also fix the current feeding problem of inmates if private prisons were in charge of feeding their own inmates.
But if the goal of a prison system is to rehabilitate inmates and ease them back into society, a better solution would be to focus on prison reform.
The Minister of Interior should focus more on the Justice for All initiative and lobby Parliament to pass the Community Service Bill.
Prison Reform Needs a Bigger Spotlight
Ghana should place more focus on prison reform, instead of public-private partnerships.
The Minister of Interior in his vetting mentioned the “Justice for All” initiative as one of the solutions to help with congestion.
The initiative is a program that aims to improve access to legal services and reduce prison overcrowding.
According to officials from the initiative, there has been a drop in remand detainees from 33 percent in 2007 to 10.5 percent in 2024.
An expansion of this effort with government support could lead to a further reduction of prison inmates.
The Ministry of Interior should also collaborate with the Attorney General and Parliament to pass the Community Service Bill.
The bill aims to introduce community service as an alternative to custodial sentences for minor offenses.
The bill is currently stalled in Parliament, awaiting further review.
Reform over Profits
Decongestion of prison inmates is an important goal of the new administration however, the introduction of private prisons should be an afterthought.
Private prisons are ripe for exploitation and corruption and they undermine the very purpose of the justice system.
There is already a precedent that private prisons put profit over the care of prisoners, with reports in 2014, showing some US private prisons charging higher than average fees for the welfare of inmates.
The Minister of Interior should focus more on the Justice for All initiative and lobby Parliament to pass the Community Service Bill.
Ghana’s prisons should focus on rehabilitation, not incarceration for profit. Prison inmates deserve justice and a chance to reintegrate into society. The use of private prisons would send a wrong message.
