The traditional Ghanaian communities did not have official prison system until the British Council of Merchants established a network of harsh prisons in forts such as the Cape Coast castle (Aba-Afari, 2011:10). Penal system in the then Gold Coast (the name changed to Ghana in 1957 upon attaining independence) started in an irregular manner from the early 1800s when the administration of the Forts on the coast was in the hands of a committee of merchants under the chairmanship of Captain George Maclean, who exercised criminal jurisdiction not only in Forts but also outside them. By 1841, a form of the prison had been
110 established in the Cape Coast Castle where debtors, possibly were incarcerated. By 1850, there were prisons in four Forts, holding a total of 129 prisoners who were kept in chains and usually worked in road gangs (Seidman, 1969:435). The Prisons Ordinance of 1860 outlined regulations for the safe-keeping of prisoners. Later ordinances further defined the nature of the colony's prison regimen, or "separate system," which required solitary confinement by night, penal labor, and a minimum diet. The 1860 Ordinance was a mere series of rules for the safekeeping of prisoners, embodying no comprehensive philosophy of punishment. The diet was said to be generous enough, prisoners were given 6lbs of kenkey daily with a pound of fish thrice weekly. During the 1860s punishment of imprisonment became increasingly harsh, with the introduction of penal labor in the form of short drill and treadmill (Seidman,1969:436). Several corporal punishments were administered by the dreaded cat- ‘o/nine-tails and prison diets were diminished to a level at which they were only just sufficient to keep prisoners alive (Seidman,1969).
From 1875, when the Gold Coast was formally created as a colony, British criminal jurisdiction was gradually extended to the entire southern part of present-day Ghana and in 1876, the Gold Coast Prison Ordinance, modeled on the English Prisons Act of 1865 was introduced. The caretaker functions the early prisons which consisted of mere rules of mere rules for safe keeping of prisoners were established in the 1880 Prisons Ordinance (Ghana Prison Service, 2015). These regulations showed that prisoners were to be locked into separate cells at night, so far as accommodation will allow. Convict prisoners were not to speak or make any signs to any other prisoners, or to make any signs to any other prisoner, or to sing or whistle or even to make complaints to any but to senior prison officer or a visitor. Letters and visits were permitted only once in three months. Prisoners above the age of 16 years were to do short drills for three hours per day.
Regarding staffing, by the early 1900s, British colonial officials administered the country's prisons and employed Europeans to work as guards in the prisons. After World War II, Ghanaians gradually replaced these individuals.
The unsatisfactory state of the prisons in the years that followed led to the placing of the Prisons Department under the Police Administration. In 1920, however as a result of increased number of prison establishments and staff, the Police and the Prisons Departments were again separated, and the Prisons department was placed under an Inspector- General of Prisons. Captain Cookson was appointed as the first Inspector
111 General of Prisons, his request was enacted by the Governor in Council in 1922 and became effective on January 1, 1923.
Prior to 1920 convicts in the pre-colonial Ghana were involved in hard labour. However, in 1920 the practice of punishment diet without hard labour was stopped (sectional paper viii Leg. Council 1919-20 app. Adm 14/15). Likewise, from this date, prison penal labour was abolished. Prison labour and Trade prisons constituted a reserve pool of inexpensive labor for the government, and in 1908 the annual report pointed out with pride to a growth in the return from prison industries from E413, 19s -16d in 1904 to E 2693.11s -4d in 1908. However, in 1910, the Governor ordered that prison labour must be restricted only to government departments. In 1906, many people placed orders for work by prisoners. But in 1910, it was stopped because this system was displacing local industries. In 1918, the public was again permitted to use prison labour. For this reason, larger sheds were built to accommodate the boot making shops (Dept Report,1918).
During this era, the major effort of the prison system, thus, turned away from harsh punishment to teaching prisoners a trade (Salifu, 1980). In 1906, a Briton, Major Kittson, who had visited the British prisons in Gold Coast while on leave, wrote that the prisoners ‘took a delight' in learning a trade’ (despatch no 100, March 7, 1904). In 1927-28, there were two European technical instructors and sixteen trade instructors for a daily average of 1 706.25 prisoners.
During colonial era in the then Gold Coast, there was no classification of prisoners. Salifu (1980) reported that according to the annual report of 1897, prisoners were never classified and separated. The report went further to state that the prisoners work and sleep together in a group of 6 -15.
In 1945, industrial institutions which receive boys between the ages of 16 and 21 were established under the school ordinance of 1945. As at 1948, there were 29 penal establishments maintained by the Prison Department. Total lockup was 3 000 which was less than that of 1947. Staff controlling prisons was increased by only three officers and eleven escort warders. In all, they were 15 officers and 650 men (Salisfu, 1980). There were five central prisons, two prison camps and one industrial institution which were all managed by D.C.S. Native authorities maintained 41 prisoners during the year 1948. No more prisoners were sent to Salaga jail and that of Lawra was closed. Between 1947 and
112 1948, a new prison was opened at Ankaful for criminals suffering from leprosy and tuberculosis.