Effective Treatment Measures for Prisoners to Facilitate Their Reintergration Into Society: The Ghanaian Experience (From UNAFEI Resource Material Series No. 54, P 327-340, 1999 -- See NCJ-190077)

• NCJ Number: 190097
• Author(s): Asiedu W. Kwadwo
• Date Published: September 1999
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Japan

Annotation

This paper examined Ghana's experience with treatment of prisoners to facilitate their reintegration into society.

Abstract

The paper examined the objectives and practices of treatment of incarcerated, early release prisoners, and post-release offenders in Ghana. It evaluated the various forms of treatment at different levels of the penal system to assess their effectiveness in transforming offenders into acceptable and useful members of society. Treatment of prisoners (both adults and juveniles) is based on formal and informal education, technical and vocational training in the walled prisons, and agricultural training in camp prisons, which are open facilities in farming communities. The paper described institutional conditions; prisoners' rights; vocational and agricultural training; and uses of prison labor. Alternatives to imprisonment include fines, bonds, probation, early release, remission, and amnesty. The paper described qualification standards for these alternative programs. It also described treatment of discharged prisoners in the community and factors militating against treatment. The paper recommended that all personnel who administer criminal justice must be reoriented and sensitized to the need for reforms, with a focus on alternatives to imprisonment and programs inside prisons. Tables