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Rehabilitation in Ghana: Assessing Prison Conditions and Effectiveness of Interventions for Incarcerated Adults
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posted on 2023-09-01, 15:09 authored by Kofi Boakye, Thomas D Akoensi, Frank D BaffourWe assess the extent to which the penal system in Ghana has adopted rehabilitation as a fundamental principle and a means to attain desistance from offending and examine the history of incarceration in Ghana, how the advent of colonialism supplanted the traditional rehabilitation approach of restitution and community reintegration and rehabilitation ideals as a process of restoring people who have offended to full citizenship and reaffirming the fundamental belief in the dignity of the person. The chapter reveals prison conditions violate rehabilitation principles and outlines the implications of such violations for the individual and society. It is seen that prisons are underfunded, overcrowded and understaffed and that the system is focused primarily on safe custody of persons serving prison sentences. Rehabilitation remains on the periphery. Where rehabilitation programmes exist, they are focused primarily on vocational training and basic skills acquisition. The review found a disconnection between existing legislations and recent efforts to reform prisons to ensure that they meet their reformative goals. We conclude with some reflections on how rehabilitation could be reimagined and articulated within a resource-constrained context.
History
Refereed
- Yes
Page range
201-218External DOI
Publisher
Springer NatureTitle of book
The Palgrave Handbook of Global Rehabilitation in Criminal JusticeISBN
9783031143755Editors
Maurice Vanstone, Philip PriestleyFile version
- Accepted version
Language
- eng
Official URL
Legacy posted date
2022-12-13Legacy creation date
2022-12-13Legacy Faculty/School/Department
Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social SciencesUsage metrics
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