Ghana Proposes New Prison

ACCRA, Ghana – Ghana’s government recently announced it was allocating $25 million to transform the Ghana Prisons Service and build a new prison complex in the Greater Accra Region.

Ghana has 42 prisons spread all over the country, eight of them for females. Many of the prisons are old forts and castles which have been converted. Prison officials say structural defects in some prisons are dangerous for inmates and prison officers.

In addition, the location of the dilapidated prisons, such as the Kumasi Central Prison in the second biggest city, pose a serious threat to the security of nearby towns.

The biggest prison, Medium Security Prison at Nsawam just outside the capital, houses 2,350 inmates in a facility with a design capacity of 717. The prison, opened in 1960, is Ghana's most modern.

Interior Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang said the government has also secured a loan from the South African government to provide workshop equipment and vehicles, as well as training programs