The Director-General of Prisons in charge of Services, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie (ESQ), has disclosed that the government has approved an increase in the daily feeding fee for prisoners from GH¢1.80 to GH¢5, fifteen years after the rate was last reviewed.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, she stated that until recently, prison authorities were managing just GH¢1.80 daily to feed each inmate, an amount she described as inadequate.
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“Once the feeding is wrong, it has ripple effects on health and every other thing; we are working assiduously to ensure the rules change. We are hopeful the GH¢5 a day will be increased in the course of 2026 to reflect the feeding regime for a disgruntled adult, an angry adult behind bars,” she noted.
Patience Baffoe-Bonnie explained that prison authorities currently rely on their own gardens, a small fish pond, and donations from churches to supplement food supplies.
She noted that inadequate feeding often sparks riots, putting prison officers at serious risk.
“We have to note on this platform that one of the things that is giving cause for inmates to riot is food. So, we do everything within our means to ensure that as much as possible, we’re containing the inmates without the riots. Because if there are any riots, the poor prison officer becomes the first point of attack before any intervention. I want to say that beyond the feeding, there are also [other] challenges,” she stressed.
The new feeding fee would be captured in the 2026 Budget, following presidential approval, with GH¢10 million expected to be released to cover the last quarter of 2025.
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