Ghana government spends GH¢1.80 to feed each prison inmate – Director-General

Isaac Kofi Egyir, the Director-General of the Ghana Prison Service, said that the institution since 2011 to date, spends GH¢1.80 to feed each prisoner daily.

The Director-General said this at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in response to a question by Dr Clement Abas Apaak, a Member of PAC and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bulsa South, during the Committee’s hearing in Accra.

The MP wanted to know from the Director-General how much the Ghana Prison Service was spending to feed each inmate daily.

Dr James Klutse Avedzi, the Chairman of PAC and NDC MP for Ketu North asked the Director-General how he managed the situation with the GH¢1.80.

Mr Egyir, in his response, said: “We have farms all over the country and it is our farms that have stood in since the problems of feeding arose. And this is what we are doing to complement the government’s efforts in feeding the inmates.”

Dr. Avedzi said without support from the farm, the Prison Service might find it very difficult to feed the inmates.

Madam Naana Eyiah, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, said the government would do something about the GH¢1.80.

The Ghana Prisons Service as a key stakeholder of the Criminal Justice System of Ghana contributes to the maintenance of internal security by maintaining an efficient, humane, and safe reformatory penal system operated within the laws of Ghana.

It is committed to undertaking the safe custody, humane treatment, reformation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of inmates to make them responsible, productive, and law-abiding citizens to ensure public safety.