Let’s support ex-convicts to integrate into society — Bono Minister

The public has been urged to open their arms to ex-convicts by accepting them back into the communities to enable them to live their normal lives and work to earn a living.

Speaking at a short presentation ceremony held at the premises of the Central Prison in Sunyani, the Regional Minister Mad. Justina Owusu Banahene said although it was the duty of the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) to reform and rehabilitate inmates for their re-integration into the communities, such effort would come to naught if the larger society continued to stigmatise and refuse to accept ex-convicts.

She has, however, appealed to Ghanaians to accept and assist ex-convicts to integrate into society.

According to the Bono Regional Minister, many ex-convicts are invariably stigmatised in the various societies they found themselves in, “for this reason, many of them end up going back into the prisons (recidivism) due to the ill-treatment they go through.”

The Regional Minister said when people go to prison, they are rehabilitated and therefore, it is important for families and communities to help them integrate with other citizens.

Justina Owusu Banahene explained that when a person serves jail time, he or she is paying for their crime and do not have to be further punished by the community by not forgiving and accepting them back.

“We teach prisoners farming, welding, bricklaying with the hope that after serving their time they would improve their lives. To our surprise, they always go back to prison. When asked why they are back, they tell officers that they were not welcomed back into the community and therefore, decided to commit crimes so that they could be sent back to prison since they feel comfortable there,” she said.

“The government spends a lot of money trying to empower those people, but we realise that our efforts run futile because they are rejected by families and community.

However, the minister noted that her office will soon hold stakeholders' engagement, form committees that would work with ex-prisoners and help them integrate with the community and help them rebuild their lives.

Bono Minister urged the community to forgive ex-prisoners and move on. She added they must make them feel comfortable and stop calling them names and neither talk about their previous crimes.

She also called on companies to give them support by employing them saying the certificates they possess were genuine just like any other certificates from various institutions.

Mad. Justina Owusu Banahene mentioned that the inmates are given extensive vocational training in order to fit into society when they are released, and so, families of ex-felons should endow them with some capital to start up a business for themselves.

The Regional Minister further pleaded with the community not to let ex-convicts get back to prison.

She added that due to anger of not being accepted back into the community, they end up initiating other children from the same community into crime as a way of revenge.

She also said some of the ex-cons end up not accepting themselves and moving on because community members and families rejected them.

Mad. Justina Owusu Banahene reiterated that "Ghanaian Laws are strict but crime keeps on escalating. We are the ones who can reduce crime here and we are the ones who can make it grow. We cannot go out at night and even build high screen walls because we fear our children who have turned into criminals. The problem is also that we tend to turn a blind eye to our neighbours who live in poverty and turn into criminals for survival. This is why crime has escalated. We no longer help each other. It is up to us to help ex-convicts get back into our communities,” she said.

Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, presented street bulbs to the Sunyani Central Prisons to improve security in the prison’s enclave and appealed to the public to support the Ghana Prison Service in the reformation of inmates.

The Assistant Superintendent of Prisons (ASP) Amponsah Duah, a Deputy Commander, Operations at the Central Prisons, expressed appreciation to the Regional Minister and appealed for more support.

He appealed to the Regional Minister to intervene and facilitate the reshaping of the access roads within the prison’s enclave.

The Regional Minister later interacted with the newly-recruited officers of the Service and advised them to remain loyal and faithful in serving the nation.