The Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Mrs Patience Baffoe-Bonnie Esq., has described working conditions in the country’s prisons as “hell,” appealing to Parliament for better compensation and improved welfare support for officers facing psychological, emotional and physical challenges.
Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament’s hearing on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, she identified poor working conditions, inadequate salaries and the absence of contagious disease allowances for officers in certain prison environments as major concerns, warning that the challenges could undermine efforts to attract and retain personnel for the service.
“My passionate appeal is this: working as a prison officer is hell,” Ms. Baffoe-Bonnie stated, describing the difficulties confronting officers who work alongside convicted persons in challenging prison environments.
Prison Officers Face Psychological and Physical Strain
Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie explained that prison officers experience psychological, emotional and physical pressures because they work in the same environment as inmates, despite not having been convicted of any offence themselves.
According to her, the difficult conditions within prisons affect officers directly, leaving many struggling with the demands of their work. “Everything about a prison officer is highly challenging because the prison officer who is not convicted of any offence is compelled to live in the same space as somebody who is convicted,” she told the committee.
She argued that the conditions surrounding inmates also affect the officers responsible for supervising them, contributing to emotional distress among personnel. “The average prison officer is usually depressed,” she disclosed, highlighting the psychological burden associated with working in the service.
Her remarks underscored the need to consider officers’ welfare alongside the conditions of inmates when assessing the challenges confronting Ghana’s prison system.
Low Salaries Threaten Recruitment
The Prisons Service Director-General also raised concerns about the service’s ability to attract new personnel, pointing to the number of people who purchased recruitment forms during the last recruitment exercise.
She observed that interest in joining the Prisons Service was significantly lower than interest in other security agencies, a trend she believes reflects the unattractive conditions associated with the profession.
“The people who wanted to buy the prison forms were far less than all the other agencies,” she noted. Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie attributed the situation partly to the toxic working environment and relatively low salaries, arguing that the country must consider additional compensation to attract suitable candidates.
She appealed for prison officers’ working conditions to be reflected in their remuneration, stressing that the demands of the job require greater recognition.“We must begin to compensate for these things as part of salary as a country because we have to attract the right people to do all that we are saying about it around the table,” she urged.
She expressed hope that the parliamentary hearing would help stakeholders better understand the challenges facing the service and respond to its requests for support.
Director-General Calls for Contagious Disease Allowances
A major concern raised by Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie was the long-standing issue of contagious disease allowances for prison officers. She explained that the allowance had been under consideration for a considerable period, noting that officers working at Ankaful Prison receive the payment because the facility has been designated as a contagious prison.
However, she argued that the current arrangement does not adequately address the risks faced by officers working in facilities where the health status of inmates has not yet been established.
According to her, inmates transferred to designated contagious prisons would generally have been diagnosed with an infectious disease before their arrival. Officers working in other prison environments, however, may encounter inmates whose medical conditions remain unknown.
“The danger rather is in the spaces where we are yet to know whether the prisoners have the contagious disease or not. They rather are not being paid that allowance”.
Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie
She therefore urged authorities to prioritise officers working in environments where the infectious status of inmates has yet to be determined, arguing that these personnel also face potential exposure.
Baffoe-Bonnie Appeals for Immediate Welfare Support
The Director-General described her request for contagious disease allowances as a modest but important step towards improving officers’ welfare. She maintained that addressing the allowance would provide some relief while broader salary concerns remained under consideration.
“The margin is very little. I believe that before we look at all other salaries, if we are able to work on that, at least it will be a step in the right direction to ensure that my officers are somehow taken good care of”.
Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie
Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie further linked improved welfare to officers’ ability to discharge their responsibilities, including implementing the law as required. She indicated that providing better support would strengthen her justification for enforcing the law while ensuring that personnel working under difficult conditions received appropriate consideration.
“I’ll have the moral courage and justification to be implementing the laws as they are,” she stated. Her appeal placed officers’ working conditions, recruitment challenges and disease-related allowances before the parliamentary committee, with the Director-General calling for practical measures to improve the welfare of personnel serving in Ghana’s prisons.
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