The Oti Regional Minister-designate, Daniel Machator has proposed plans to reform prisons in the Oti Region.

During his vetting on March 11, 2024, he stated that he would collaborate with the Ministry of Interior to transform prisons into true centres of rehabilitation.

Mr Machator noted that prisons are meant to reform individuals but the poor conditions have made it challenging for inmates to be reformed.

“I think we are rather practicing human warehousing than imprisonment which is supposed to help them reform because at the end of the day, the condition the person finds themselves in within the prison makes the person think society is against them,” he said.

The Oti Regional Minister-designate stated the daily food budget for every inmate in Ghanaian prisons is an amount of GH₵1.80

“This translates into 60 pesewas breakfast, 60 pesewas lunch and 60 pesewas supper. So you should know that every prison administrator in Ghana is a magician. From 2011 to 2024, an inmate is fed GH₵1.80 pesewas in a day. The GH₵1.80 pesewas should be looked at immediately,” he said.

Mr. Machator stated that he would prioritize building smaller prisons in the district to address overcrowding in prison

“We should prioritise building smaller prisons in the district, even if it’s a 100-capacity prison so we are not going to overburden other prison facilities.”

He stated that if inmates are taken through reformative and rehabilitative procedures, they will have the opportunity to learn a skill.

“If it’s a job the person is supposed to learn, the person will learn. If it’s a pastor or Imam taking him through psycho-social training to ensure that the person leaves a law-abiding life after imprisonment, the person will curtail to that. The person will listen to that.”

“So I will engage the Ministry of Interior and other governmental sectors that have something to do with the Ghana Prisons Service to ensure that whatever investment we need to do in the prison service, we do that.”