Prisons now university for learning higher crimes – Stephen Wengam

Board Chairman of the Prisons Council, Reverend Stephen Yenusom Wengam has observed that the conditions of the prisons in Ghana end up toughening criminals after they are jailed.

According to him, most of Ghana’s prisons were not originally built for that purpose thereby making them impossible to provide the atmosphere needed to ensure the comfort of prisoners.

“Another challenge that we are saddled with is our inability to classify the inmates. Per the UN minimum standard rules, you are supposed to classify them. If someone indulges in petty crime you are supposed to put them in a particular place away from the hardened criminals.

“But again because they were not purpose built, we are compelled to put all of them together. So our prisons have become university for learning higher crimes,” he told Kafui Dey on the Morning Starr Wednesday.

He said there must be a national desire to improve conditions in the prisons across the country. He lamented, also, the inability of the council to improve the knowledge base of inmates due to the lack of resources.

“We are supposed to train them in several areas including automobile but because of the lack of resources, the training workshops are literally empty”.