The Prison is supposed to be a place of reformation and rehabilitation for those who have been found on the wrong side of the law.
It however appears the Nsawam Medium Security prison has become a safe haven for criminals to trade and abuse drugs.
Notwithstanding this, they become even more hardened when they come out of prison because they have not been impacted.
Drugs enter the prisons, aided by some unscrupulous prison officers who make it their extra job at the expense of their mandate in helping to reform inmates.
There has been a recent wave of techniques some inmates or their families and friends employ to ‘smuggle ‘ drugs into the prisons.
According to some videos circulated online, inmates could be captured defecating substances believed to be drugs they push through their anus; a daring venture of course.
Some of the techniques have led to the maiming of perpetrators who had to undergo life-threatening surgeries to save their lives.
Many of these victims have accused some prison officers of pushing them into the act and have abandoned them after the drugs they swallowed or pushed through their anus got stuck.
Though such testimonies are wild and unsubstantiated, it is a cause for worry and must be looked at critically.
Other means drugs are transported through prison gates is by hiding them in food brought by families and friends of inmates.
A visit to the prison on Friday, September 15, 2023, was an eyesore. It details how an officer inspected food the mother of an inmate had prepared from home for her ward at the prison.
The officer used her hands and a ladle to stir the food as she did her inspection.
While in many jurisdictions, drug detection methods have developed from physical pat-downs to intrusive and humiliating strip and body cavity searches; Ghana is still reeling with the manual technique and even does that with difficulty.
Each method has its own level of effectiveness, but the reality of prisons requires total effectiveness. The debate of prison facilities acquiring scanners has heightened but it seems the Ghana Prisons Service is handicapped.
Since 1993, X-ray technology has been allowed in non-medical uses. Security scanning is more effective when it eliminates unnecessary body searches whilst still enhancing drug countering in prison systems.
The benefits of using a transmission body scanner to detect any contraband trying to be smuggled into prisons including drugs, weapons, cell phones, and other prohibited items.
Through the sophisticated use of high-tech features, scanners ensure a safe environment for prison staff, inmates, and visitors.
It is a safer and more effective solution to manage the risk of contraband (be it drugs, weapons, cell phones, or other items).
The scanner reveals everything in ten seconds; it is easy to use and achieves a high-quality scan image. Fast and easy: the image shows the whole body and any contraband is revealed.
Some scanners make it impossible to smuggle.
The Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) in 2020 set up a Unit to train and breed sniffer dogs to help detect contraband goods in prisons.
The new K9 unit of the Service is to aid the manual search for mobile phones, narcotic drugs, money, and alcohol, among others, being smuggled to inmates in the prisons.
The Public Relations Officer of the GPS, Chief Superintendent of Prisons Courage Atsem said without scanners at the prisons, personnel on duty had to be extra vigilant and that the introduction of the Unit would help boost operations.
Chief Supt Atsem said personnel were also being trained to search for physical items on visitors and inmates.
He mentioned feeding as a major challenge of the Service, adding that an amount of GH¢1.80 pesewas spent on an inmate for three square meals was woefully inadequate.
The inmates may have to find other means to survive in the prison and one of such ways is to trade drugs.
The lack of scanning machines at the country’s prisons continues to affect the Service’s efforts to prevent the smuggling of illicit items into the cells by inmates and visitors.
The Service continues to conduct manual searches on visitors and inmates at the point of entry and exit of prisons across the country.
The manual search is time-consuming and affects operations. The provision of scanner machines would help in the easy detection of illicit items.
Continuous collaboration from key stakeholders will help the Prisons Service achieve its goals.
Since its establishment in 1969, the Prisons Service has been operating without scanners.
The Ghana Prisons Service needs our support to sustain its efforts in ensuring internal security through an efficient, humane, and safe reformatory penal system operated within the laws of Ghana.
Check out how drugs were concealed in eggshells to smuggle into prison
A young Ghanaian got into trouble after he attempted to smuggle weed to his friend in prison.
He was detained by officers of the Ghana Prisons Service when he attempted to smuggle what was thought to be cannabis-infused hard narcotics into the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in Ghana.
The young man devised a method of packing the drugs into eggshells and resealed them to make them appear unbroken.
The suspect then went to the Nsawam prison with the supposed eggs in a crate, claiming he wanted to present them to his friend, who was a prisoner.
Unfortunately for him, a suspicious prison guard chose to crack one egg out of curiosity and discovered marijuana within.
They later cracked up another of the eggs and found that the intoxicant was present in every one of them. After being busted, the suspect—whose name was withheld—was subsequently taken into custody.
