Field Trip

Today, Jessie and I went to prison. We actually went to two prisons. One was the main camp prison where they kept those who committed petty crimes such as theft or those who had a short time left on their sentences. People are at this prison anywhere from a couple months to two years maximum. The camp has a large open area and little house-like structures where the inmates live. The inmates are free to wander around the camp and participate in various activities such as garden work, cleaning and other manual labor. We were told that if any of the inmates escaped or tried to, the entire unit or cell would be punished which lowers the chances for any escapes since their sentences are already short and the others would most likely put a stop to it.
The Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana works with a small group of inmates who are peer educators to the other inmates. They have been previously trained by our team to educate their fellow inmates on issues such as destigmatizing HIV, not sharing sharp objects with each other in order to reduce the spread of HIV and lung health related to smoking and TB. We held a meeting where these peer educators expressed their achievements and challenges in helping their inmates.
We then proceeded to go to the maximum security prison where people were sent for much serious crimes, such as incest, rape, and murder. Many of these sentences were anywhere from 10 years to life sentences. This prison was a lot more structured as to where inmates were allowed to be at certain times. The inmates were also older here than the ones at the main camp. This prison had a nice basketball court and soccer field for the inmates to use. It didn’t seem to shabby. Imagine the prison in Orange is the New Black, but cleaner, bigger and better.