THE CHALLENGES OF FEMALE AND JUVINILE PRISONERS IN GHANA. ACCRA, APRIL 25.

The deplorable state of the country’s prisons and detention centers are said to be affecting the quality of life of inmates, especially women and juveniles. Consequently, women are said to be using cement paper as “protective” pads during their menstrual periods.

This disclosure was made by Mr. Mohammed Kpakpo Addo, the research officer of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Accra. Mr. Addo was reacting to a February 2008 “Ghanaian Times” publication about the inhuman conditions under which prisoners live in Ghana
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He argued that, major challenges facing female and juvenile prisoners mostly centre on poor sanitation, poor ventilation, feeding and inadequate water supply. These conditions have had inmates to live undignified lives which sometimes affect their health and general well-being.

Explaining why CHRAJ cannot intervene on behalf of the inmates, Mr. Addo indicated that the commission is only a statutory body established by law to investigate cases and make appropriate recommendations to Parliament for the necessary action to be taken.

In line with its mandate, CHRAJ has been conducting annual mandatory inspection of selected detention centers country wide, and makes annual reports to Parliament. It is now the duty of the legislators to act on the commission’s recommendations.

Commenting on examples of recommendations made by the commission so far, Mr. Addo emphasized the need to introduce community service as a punishment for lesser crimes. He also recommended that there was the need to streamline the judicial system so that remand cases would not be dragged for years.

In reaction to the story, a source at the National Headquarters of the Ghana Prison Service confirmed that the plight of female and juvenile inmates in the country’s prisons worsening by the day. This, the source said, is due to the inadequate financial and logistic support given to the service to cater for the needs of prisoners.

The source indicated that, till date, prisoners are fed on a daily wage of forty pesewas per head, an amount which is seem to be woefully inadequate considering the current economic condition of the country. Hence the inability of the prison authorities to provide such basic necessities as protective pads for female inmates.


Commenting on the plight of juvenile, the source indicated that, the juvenile correction centers are under the care of the Department of Social Welfare.






However, the centers located at Accra, Agona Swedru and Pong Tamale lack the proper equipment and personnel to properly train and correct juveniles serving sentences in these
Centers, as required by the Juvenile Justice Act .The effect is that, most of these juveniles leave the centers hardened and mostly find their way back into crime.

Commenting on the situation of pregnant inmates at the Nsawam Prison, the source indicates that, a pregnancy test is always conducted on every female convict before she starts her sentence. Before pregnant female convicts do not get a different kind of treatment from the other female inmates, though was necessary but the service lacks the resources to implement this requirement.

The source then refuted allegations that some male prison guards impregnate female convicts saying it was a “wild allegation” which had no bases. The source also debunked claims that juveniles are sometimes mixed with adult prisoners but acknowledged that the act could be taking place in police cells since most stations do not have separate cells for juveniles and adult inmates.

In a related development, the coordinator of the Commonwealth Human Right Initiative (CHRI).Nana Oye Lithour has indicated that, the government, through the Ghana Prisons Service, has to put measures in place to ensure a proper reproductive healthcare for the country’s female prisoners.

She made the recommendation in an exclusive interview with the group in her office in Accra. She indicated that, by nature, women have a complex body stature as compared with their male counter parts. Therefore, women do not have to be given the same treatment as men in prison.

She explained further that, women are susceptible to various sicknesses such as breast cancer, menstrual disorders as well as vaginal infections, when exposed to inhuman living conditions.


The gender rights advocate therefore recommended the facilities within the female prison at Nsawam should be improved with emphasis on the primary healthcare of inmates. Regular medical check-ups should be conducted for inmates in order to identify infectious diseases before they become epidemics within the facility.

Adding to this, she explained that babies unit at the Nsawam Prison lacked most of the basic facilities, equipments and professional personnel capable of taking care of the babies. She said the Prisoners were only supplied with Paracetamol in case they were ill.

She also said further that, the female prison has come to be associated with stigmatization. This she explain to mean that where as male prisoners regularly receives visitors this was, however lacking in the female prisons. She said relatives of the female prisoners hardly make efforts to visit them, compelling prison guards to name the children born in the prisons in absence of their legitimate fathers.

That not withstanding she said efforts by the Prison Services and the Ministry of Interior to separate the babies from their mothers, was a gross violation of the right of the Children unless it was being done in the best interest of the child. Supporting her position and on this, she said in consonance with World Health Organizations recommendation, a baby should be fed exclusively on the mothers breast for six months from birth and should continue to receive breast milk as part of their diet for two years and beyond. Meanwhile, Ghana’s Breast Feeding Promotion Regulation, 2000(L1 1667) also emphasized the benefits and superiority of breast-feeding. Denying babies access to their mothers, she said is a criminal offence.

She stressed further that, non-compliance with the criminal procedure code was the genesis of all the issues that had been pointed to. She noted that, women who tested positive prior to conviction ought to have been given suspended sentence or a non-custodial sentence. But these provisions had for a long time never been adhered to.


She therefore urged government and civil societal organizations to come to the aid of in mates to help improve upon their lots. Apart from this, she said her outfit was doing everything possible to ensure that human rights related issues bothering on the shoulders of female inmates and juveniles were upheld.