Think Prisons 360 degrees: The Ghana Prisons Service reset agenda

The Ghana Prisons Service stands at a pivotal moment in its institutional evolution, embracing a new transformative strategic direction that reimagines the role of prison facilities in national development. Moving beyond traditional custodial functions, the Service has embarked on an ambitious journey that places equal emphasis on inmate rehabilitation, staff welfare, economic productivity, and special initiatives. This holistic approach recognises that true corrections reform must serve both humanitarian and developmental objectives.

1. Welfare of officers and inmates

At the heart of the Ghana Prisons Service’s strategic vision lies an unwavering commitment by the Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Mrs Patience Baffoe-Bonnie (ESQ), to human welfare. For inmates, this means creating an environment that upholds dignity while facilitating genuine rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Throughout her interactions with officers, stakeholders, and inmates, Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie recognises that individuals in custody remain members of the community who will eventually return to civilian life. Therefore, the Service has prioritised improved living conditions, access to quality healthcare, mental health support, and educational opportunities that address the root causes of criminal behaviour.

Equally important is the welfare of prison staff—the dedicated professionals who operate on the frontlines of the correctional system. The strategic direction acknowledges that staff well-being directly impacts institutional effectiveness and rehabilitation outcomes.

The new strategic direction seeks to enhance remuneration packages, train and develop staff, construct modern housing units, and upgrade existing health facilities and workshops within the prisons. Improving working conditions of officers forms the foundation of a motivated and professional workforce. By investing in staff development and creating pathways for career advancement, the Service ensures that its personnel are equipped with the skills, knowledge, and support necessary to fulfil their complex mandate of ensuring effective safe custody, reformation, and rehabilitation of inmates to make them productive and law-abiding citizens.

2. Agricultural Mechanisation

The integration of agricultural mechanisation into the prison system represents a cornerstone of the Service’s economic empowerment strategy. Ghana’s correctional facilities possess significant land resources that, when properly utilized, can transform prisons from cost centres into productive agricultural hubs.

The Director-General of Prisons is in the process of securing land banks for commercial-scale farming for all-year-round production. Agricultural activities at all prison facilities are being expanded to include aquaculture and animal husbandry. Aside from the rearing and sale of pigs, goats, sheep, grass cutters, and rabbits, cattle rearing will be added as part of the expanding agricultural activities at the camp prisons.

Large-scale rice production will soon begin in the Savannah and Northern regions to complement that of the Akuse local prison’s rice farm. By introducing modern farming equipment, irrigation systems, and sustainable agricultural practices, the Service is creating a dual benefit: reducing the financial burden of feeding inmates while simultaneously providing valuable vocational training.

Inmates engaged in mechanised agriculture acquire practical skills in equipment operation, crop management, and agribusiness that translate directly into employment opportunities upon their release. From tractor operation to greenhouse management, these programmes prepare inmates for careers in Ghana’s vital agricultural sector.

Currently, prison farms supply fresh produce to correctional facilities, reducing operational costs and improving nutritional standards. Venturing into commercial-scale production can generate revenue through sales to local markets, creating a sustainable economic model that benefits both the institution and surrounding communities.

The Service will strategically recruit personnel with qualifications and experience in specialised areas of agriculture, such as animal scientists and extension officers.

3. Industrialisation

This pillar under the reset agenda aims to transform the Ghana Prisons Service into a productive system, fostering economic empowerment while ensuring effective rehabilitation and reintegration. The strategic emphasis on industrialisation within correctional facilities represents a bold reimagining of the prison’s economic potential.

By establishing manufacturing and production units within secure environments, the Ghana Prisons Service is creating real-world work experiences that prepare inmates for successful reintegration while generating substantial revenue.

This initiative will upgrade and retool existing workshops, establishing an industrial hub for mass production in textiles, furniture, tissue paper, and sanitary products. The hub will also mould bricks, and offer carpentry, electricals, plumbing, and metal fabrications.

These enterprises will operate as genuine businesses with quality standards, production targets, and market engagement. Inmates working in such facilities will gain technical skills, workplace discipline, and professional experience that would gradually improve their chances of being employed after they are released from prison.

Artisans would be recruited and trained to meet the growing manpower requirements.

The economic benefits extend beyond individual rehabilitation. Prison-manufactured goods would be sold to individuals and supplied to government institutions, reducing procurement costs while ensuring quality control. Products ranging from school furniture to uniforms—which the government has already allocated 30 per cent as contract to the Prisons Service—agricultural tools and construction materials demonstrate that correctional facilities can be productive contributors to national development.

Revenue generated from these enterprises flows back into improving prison conditions and expanding rehabilitative programmes, creating a virtuous cycle of investment and improvement.

4. Business for wealth creation

Beyond agriculture and manufacturing, the Ghana Prisons Service is cultivating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that empowers inmates and staff alike. This aspect of the reset agenda involves generating and accumulating assets, increasing internally generated funds, and achieving financial security over time.

As part of efforts to increase internally generated funds, the Service intends to monetise existing services and skills like renting of the regimental and dance bands, catering services, and training in technical and vocational skills.

The Service will also institutionalise the celebration of an annual Prisons Month across the nation to showcase prison products and services for public consumption.

Currently, the Ghana Prisons Service produces bottled mineral and sachet water with the brand names “Campers” in Accra and “Adum Fresh” in Kumasi. The production and distribution of the bottled mineral and sachet water will be expanded to other regions and gradually capture all nearby markets for water distribution across the nation.

The wealth creation agenda extends to families of inmates and staff. Programmes that provide skills training to family members, facilitate business partnerships, and create employment linkages help maintain family cohesion and economic stability during periods of incarceration, significantly improving reintegration outcomes.

5. Special Initiatives

The Ghana Prisons Service’s strategic vision incorporates several special initiatives that demonstrate innovative thinking and responsiveness to contemporary challenges. These programmes address specific rehabilitation needs while positioning the Service as a progressive institution committed to evidence-based corrections.

The Director-General’s Kitchen Support Project, an initiative compelling prison facilities to grow vegetables and venture into poultry and fish farming to enhance inmate diets, has been very effective across all prison facilities nationwide.

A fund known as the Prison Improvement and Sustainability Pesewa Fund (PISPES) has been established to sustain transformative prison projects through external grants, donor support, and corporate social investments, while financing infrastructure upgrades, training programs, environmental initiatives, and digital transformation.

The Waste to Value Project will make good use of all rejected and waste items and materials from tailoring shops to the manufacturing departments. Pieces of waste fabrics and empty plastic bottles will be used for producing bags, doormats, and other decorative items.

Creative Arts as a tool for reformation, rehabilitation, and reintegration is a new training programme piloted in two prison facilities a few months ago and will soon be a regular programme in all facilities. This initiative trains inmates in photography, script writing, videography, and editing, equipping them with employable skills for the creative industry after their release.

The Ghana Prisons Service’s strategic transformation positions correctional facilities as genuine partners in national development rather than isolated institutions of punishment. By prioritising human welfare, economic productivity, and innovative programming, the Service demonstrates that effective corrections serve society’s safety, economic, and humanitarian interests.

This vision requires sustained commitment from government, partnership with private sector and civil society, and unwavering focus on outcomes that benefit inmates, staff, and communities. As implementation progresses, Ghana has the opportunity to establish a corrections model that inspires regional and continental reform while proving that investment in rehabilitation yields returns in reduced crime, increased productivity, and strengthened social cohesion.

The journey toward this transformed vision is ongoing, but the strategic direction is clear: Ghana’s correctional system will be defined not by walls and bars alone, but by opportunities created, lives transformed, and contributions made to a more prosperous and just society.

Through welfare, agriculture, industrialisation, business development, and special initiatives, the Ghana Prisons Service is writing a new chapter in corrections—an institution where dignity, productivity, and hope replace despair, idleness, and recidivism.

BY SUPT SAMUEL KOFI OPOKU

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