SAMARITAN VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATION

There was no prison system in traditional Ghanaian society. In the mid-nineteenth century, the British council of merchants established a network of harsh prisons in forts such as Cape Coast Castle. By 1850 four such prisons could hold up to 129 prisoners. Convicts usually worked on road gangs. The Prisons Ordinance of 1860 outlined regulations for the safe-keeping of prisoners. Later ordinances further defined the nature of the colony's prison regimen, or "separate system," which required solitary confinement by night, penal labor, and a minimum diet.

Ministerial responsibility for the prison system has shifted periodically since independence and I might state here that very less input have been made to our prisons if it comes to reformation of prisoners.

Crime is still an ever-present occurrence in Ghana in spite of ongoing efforts to climb down criminals and improve human and social security of this country's citizens.

This is because the country's prison facilities where criminality is expected to end have become revolving doors, and that too many of their residents - that is prisoners - return time and again; more than half of all inmates will be back in prison within six years of their release, investigations have revealed.

As sad but unfortunately, the current 47 prison facilities across the country, whatever form they take, do not seem to correct, rehabilitate or treat criminal offenders to become useful citizens at the end of their jail terms.

They rather make them more embittered because of degrading human conditions such as lack of food, water, clothing, medicals and detergents inmates face day after day, there by serving as outdated warehouses for real human beings who have been detained by the state.

However, prisons in the country are overcrowded and seen as bitter penal institutions meant for social outcasts whom government believes should just be taken away from society and given the "just deserts" for their crimes.

In this sense, prison success would be measured by factors such as physical security, lengthy of incapacitation, relationship between crime rate and the number of incarcerated felons, and inmates' perception that their treatment was fair and proportionate. Many organizations has stressed that the reformation of prisoners is the responsibility of the entire society, prison officers and the inmates.

The society regarded ex-convicts as outcasts forgetting that not all prisoners can be termed as criminals. Most convicts are victims of cases such as Assault/Indecent Assault, Damage/Causing Harm, Threatening, Fraud, Conspiracy, Unlawful Entry, Driving Offences with the most serious cases being Stealing, Rape, Defilement, Murder, Manslaughter, Possession of Narcotic Drugs and Possessing Firearms.

They therefore, tended to cause more serious offences with the intention to go back to prison they are no accepted in society. The society should try to embrace ex-convicts after serving their sentences and should be accepted by society like a sick person who has been discharged from the hospital.

Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
 

But the question arising out of this situation is whether it is realistic to expect that a significant portion of prisoners will successfully adjust to society after a lengthy stay in an overcrowded and bitter penal institution of the state. The nation could weed off a significant number of criminals from society only when government deems it necessary to see to the welfare of inmates properly with the intension of reforming them to become assets, not liabilities.

It is the duty of Government to ensure that persons detained by the state are properly taken care of for an eventual reformation, contrary to which will mean that the state is just "throwing or keeping people in human warehouse."

Fundamental human rights of prisoners are in breach because inmates sleep in turns, have no food to eat, lack medical treatment, clothing and recreational facilities to enjoy alongside other deprivations. In the view of prison officers, the country's prisons can be useful places for criminal offenders' rehabilitation and treatment by offering educational programmes to inmates in order to get vocational training and college credits whiles they are serving their jail terms.

Imagine spending your years, or worse, your lifetime, inside a prison cell. You can't be with your family, or do your normal daily activities. This is the reason why some prisoners are losing hope already. But there are others who are optimistic that someday they will go back to their normal lives.

This is where Prisoner rehabilitation comes in. Samaritan Voluntary Organization started it's prisoner rehabilitation programme to reduce the incidence of recidivism. There is the need for prisoner rehabilitation programs so that cases of prisoners re-offending will be lessened. There are several methods or disciplines of prisoner rehabilitation but Samaritan Voluntary Organization prisons team is into the faith-based prisoner rehabilitation wherein the Preaching of the Gospel and Social Life Advices are used to encourage inmates to adapt some moral values. 

The team uses prayer and spiritual transformation so that the prisoners who are released will not have the tendency to be brought back in again. This faith-based rehabilitation program was design for inmates to explore their faith more deeply, and encourage them to indulge in daily prayer and worship. 

Although prisoner rehabilitation does not guarantee that a prisoner will be released, or that they will not follow a life of crime anymore, at least it will give them a new perspective on life. It will ensure that prisoners do not go out with the same attitude they had when they came in. It will change their life and give them hope that there is life waiting for them outside the prison walls.

Samaritan Voluntary Organization would be much appreciated if any Organization or Individual with the same spirit of prisons rehabilitation can help either in kind or in cash to support Ghanaian Prisoners who are left to languish in spite of some who are victims of cases but not criminals.