Our prisons are flooded with too many young inmates – Ghana Prison Service

Management of the Kumasi Central Prison in the Ashanti Region says its facility has been overwhelmed by youthful inmates serving various jail terms.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Ashanti Regional Prisons Command, ASP. Richard Bukari said the majority of the young inmates in the facility had been convicted of robbery, theft, murder, assault and fraud, among others.

He said the menace, if not addressed, will affect the country’s development.

“The youthful age in prisons is now a dominant thing we need to be discussing. Initially, we got a significant number of adults, but now only the youth find themselves in prison. For me, it has an effect on the nation, the Ashanti Region and on us as individuals.

“All the productive energy that should have been used in developing the nation has now been warehoused in the prisons here in that we are losing our human resource as a nation. So any effort at making sure that they become useful citizens is welcomed,” he said on GhOne News.

He added that: “As much as possible, I will advise the youth to desist from whatever activities that have the potential of bringing them to prisons here, for there’s a lot they can contribute to national development as some Ghanaians are doing.”

ASP. Richard Bukari further called on civil society organisations, the clergy and traditional rulers to take a particular interest in the development.

The Kumasi Central Prison was established in 1901 after the British government gained grounds to rule in the Ashanti Region.

It was established to confine law-breakers to facilitate the smooth running of the British administration.

The prison was originally constructed to house inmates numbering up to 450.

However, the recent spate of criminal cases in the region has seen the facility currently housing over 2000 inmates, a number more than twice its original capacity.

As a result, the issue of congestion, with its attendant health challenges at the Kumasi Central Prison, is worsening as the facility continues to receive increasing numbers of criminals and suspects.

Although the government has rolled out a decongestion programme in prison facilities across the country for some years now, the situation is still bad.