49-year-old Prison Service Act has outlived its purpose – Director-General

The current Prison Service Act is obsolete, requiring a new advanced policy to tackle prison management and ever-changing crime, Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Isaac K. Egyir, has said.

Advocating expedited processes to finalise a new prison bill that has been drafted, Mr Egyir highlighted the importance of shelving the current 49-year-old Prison Service Act for a holistic document that also addresses changing needs of prison officers.

“Criminal activities are on the upsurge with increasing sophistication in the modes of committing a crime. Therefore, it is imperative to constantly ensure that the key preventive state agencies and other players in the criminal justice system are strengthened and equipped with the relevant skills and resources,” he underscored.

He stressed that the Prison Service is an integral part of justice delivery and cannot effectively perform without an enabling legal framework.

“With the vision of conforming to international standards and best practices in corrections management, this places an urgent demand on the service to work towards the adoption of modern norms in correctional administration,” he added.

Speaking at a two-day external stakeholders consultation on the new bill, Mr Egyir said the policy document would empower the service to fit into the changing developments in correctional service delivery if approved.

“As part of interventions to solve overcrowding in prisons is the introduction of parole under the bill. The concept of parole-based corrections is an endeavour to facilitate the integration and acceptance of deserving inmates back into society whilst at the same time maintaining criminal responsibilities,” he added.

Parole is conditional freedom for a prison inmate. The prisoner gets out from behind bars but must live up to a series of responsibilities. A parolee who doesn’t follow the rules risks going back into custody.

The absence of parole and alternative sentencing has resulted in overcrowding in Ghana’s prisons, raising concerns from the prison hierarchy.

Convicts charged with a misdemeanour or petty crime face harsh punishments, including imprisonment with limited options for reform under Ghana’s legal system.

On her part, Audra Lykos, a representative from the democracy, human rights, and governance office of USAID, observed that despite Ghana’s justice delivery sector rank of  0.57 in the 2020 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, there were major challenges that need redress.

The score ranked Ghana 6th out of 36 sub-Saharan African countries, placing Ghana foremost among lower-middle-income countries scoring high marks in advancing the rule of law in governance processes.

However, Ms Lykos stressed that most prisons in Ghana house about 55% more inmates than they were built to accommodate.

“These are the difficult circumstances that the Ghana Prison Service is navigating using the guiding act, the Prison Service Bill 1972,” she lamented.

About the new bill

The bill seeks to improve the regulatory framework concerning the administration of some critical areas. It also incorporates the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners to further engender the humane treatment and rights of inmates.

The bill also introduces some crucial inmate-specific programmes, including correctional parole, in accordance with Article 208(f) of the 1992 constitution.

The bill is sponsored by the USAID through the Legal Resources Centre.