Kumawu MP Ernest Anim urges Parliament to act on crisis in Ghana’s prisons

Chairman of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, Ernest Yaw Anim, has urged immediate reforms to address worsening living conditions in Ghana’s prisons.

Citing findings from a recent inspection at the Nsawam facility, the Kumawu MP described the conditions as “inhumane” and warned that the current situation contravenes both national values and international human rights obligations.

“With GH¢1.80 per day for food, many inmates face severe malnutrition,” Mr Anim told Parliament. “This is not sustainable. These are Ghanaians—our brothers and sisters. We must treat them with dignity, not neglect.”

He noted that the overcrowding at Nsawam, with over 3,500 inmates in a space meant for 700, presents both humanitarian and security risks.

He stressed that the majority of the prison population comprises young people, petty offenders, and remand prisoners, including mothers with infants.

“The system is not rehabilitative, and the cycle of poverty and crime continues,” he said. “We need a nationwide reform agenda now.”

Mr Anim called for gender-sensitive policies, collaboration between the Prisons Service, Parliament, and civil society, and a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into the prison system.

“The time for reform is now. Let us not wait for a crisis to spur us into action,” he concluded.

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