GH¢15 transport allowance inadequate for released prisoners – Crime Check Foundation boss

The Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, has described the GH¢15 transport allowance given to some prisoners upon their release as woefully inadequate, urging the government to review the amount. He said the allowance was insufficient to cover the cost of transporting former inmates to their respective communities, regardless of the distance they have to travel.

Speaking on The Law with Samson Lardy on JoyNews on Sunday, November 8, Mr Kwarteng said the lack of adequate support sometimes drives released prisoners to steal while travelling home to raise money for the remainder of their journey. He explained that some former inmates resort to stealing not necessarily out of criminal intent, but because the money provided by the state cannot get them to their destinations.

“With the increase in their feeding fees from GH¢1.80 pesewas to GH¢15, I am sure there might be an increase (in their transport fare). Other than that, I think it is GH¢15. How do you expect the person to reach their destination with GH¢15? “So what happens is that, in the course of their journey, some of them steal on the way because the (GH¢15) will not take them to their hometown.

It is not intentional stealing, but they want to see how they can get back to their journey,” he said. When host Samson Lardy asked whether the Ghana Prisons Service gives released inmates GH¢15 to cover their transport home, Mr Kwarteng responded in the affirmative. “Yes, as transport,” he said. Mr Kwarteng said his interactions with former inmates had exposed him to several accounts of released prisoners resorting to theft because they could not afford to complete their journeys home.

He blamed the situation partly on inadequate government planning for the reintegration of former prisoners, warning that the lack of support could undermine efforts to reform and rehabilitate offenders. He is therefore urging the government to review the GH¢15 allowance and provide more adequate financial support to enable released prisoners to return to their communities and begin rebuilding their lives.