In the past week, the President assented to 10 bills, including the Community Service Bill. The Community Service Act is supposed to provide alternative punishment for people convicted of certain minor offences while helping to decongest Ghana’s overcrowded prisons.
Member of Parliament for Ashaiman and a member of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Honourable Ernest Henry Norgbey, explained that the legislation followed extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including prison authorities, the Immigration Service and other institutions involved in justice administration. The Ashaiman MP noted that the legislation seeks to deal with minor offences without necessarily sending offenders to prison, particularly where incarceration could expose them to hardened criminals and undermine their rehabilitation.
“It is mainly to decongest the prison. Aside from the reformative measures, the rehabilitation and corrective measures, it is also to decongest the prison.”
Honourable Ernest Henry Norgbey
Honourable Norgbey pointed out that Ghana had historically used community-based punishments for certain offences, including sweeping, weeding and other forms of service, before such practices gradually disappeared from the justice system. He explained that the new law provides a structured legal framework for such alternatives, allowing courts to determine when community service could serve as an appropriate punishment for eligible offenders.
The legislation also introduces structures at the national, regional and district levels to oversee its implementation, with the Prison Service expected to play a central role in managing the system. Additionally, the framework could strengthen corrective justice by ensuring that minor offenders are not exposed to an environment that may make rehabilitation more difficult.
Honourable Norgbey further expressed confidence that the legislation would be implemented effectively because stakeholders were involved throughout the process of developing the law. He stressed that its practical application would ultimately depend on the courts having the authority and willingness to use community service as an alternative sentencing option.
“The reason why this Bill cannot lie on the shelf is that it is for the court to determine to have options of punishment given to certain categories of offenders.”
Honourable Ernest Henry Norgbey
The new framework therefore gives the judiciary another avenue to deal with eligible offences while supporting broader efforts to improve the management of Ghana’s correctional facilities.
Prison Feeding Costs Could Fall Under New Community Service Act
The financial burden of keeping thousands of inmates in Ghana’s prisons could be reduced through the implementation of the newly assented Community Service Act, particularly by limiting the number of people incarcerated for minor offences.
Member of Parliament for Ashaiman and a member of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Honourable Ernest Henry Norgbey, disclosed that the state spends significant amounts of money on feeding, healthcare, facilities and other requirements associated with maintaining inmates.
He explained that the financial pressure becomes more significant when people remain on remand for extended periods, sometimes spending several years in custody while the state continues to meet their basic needs.
According to the Ashaiman MP, the cost of feeding prisoners has also increased considerably over the years, adding another layer to the expenditure required to keep the prison system functioning.
“If you can have 13,000 inmates, multiply by five, and they eat three times a day, that one alone is a huge sum of money.”
Honourable Ernest Henry Norgbey
Honourable Norgbey acknowledged that he could not provide the current annual expenditure figure because he did not have the exact amount available at the time of the interview, but he stressed that the cumulative cost remains substantial. Beyond feeding, he noted that government must also finance the maintenance of prison facilities and provide other services required for inmates, making incarceration an expensive option for the state.
The MP also pointed to the productive activities previously undertaken by inmates, including farming and cultivation, which provided opportunities for prisoners to contribute towards their upkeep while acquiring useful skills. He recalled that the Prison Servic introduced initiatives aimed at making inmates productive, although he argued that more could be achieved if the state reduced the number of people sent to prison for offences that do not require incarceration.
Under the new Act, courts will have the option of imposing community service on eligible offenders instead of relying solely on custodial sentences provided under existing criminal legislation. Honourable Norgbey explained that this discretion could prevent prisons from receiving people whose offences fall within the category of misdemeanours that can be dealt with through alternative punishment.
The approach, he suggested, could create savings for the state while allowing prison resources to be concentrated on inmates whose offences require custodial sentences. Another important feature concerns the categories of offences that qualify under the legislation, with serious felonious crimes excluded from the community service arrangement.
The Ashaiman MP stressed that the law focuses on misdemeanours and other eligible offences, giving the courts a clearly defined alternative when determining appropriate punishment. He also dismissed the possibility that the legislation would remain unused, arguing that its design gives the courts a direct role in deciding when the alternative sentence should apply.
Honourable Norgbey therefore expects the implementation of the Act to ease pressure on correctional facilities while helping government manage the financial demands associated with imprisonment.
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