WOMEN INCARCERATION VICTIMIZED THEIR CHILDREN: A CASE STUDY OF WOMEN PRISONS IN GHANA

Abstract

This article concentrates on the problems incarcerated females and their children face in Ghana. Researchers and human rights activists have identified some primary concerns about the infringement of rights of incarcerated women across the globe including Ghana. Their challenges include gynaecological problems, food insecurity, sex trade by vulnerable groups for protection, sleepless night, and poor health conditions and childcare. Their children also encounter severe problems like poor academic performance; victimization, trauma, and stigmatization from peers; high drop-out rates; and juvenile delinquency which takes them to prisons in their adult lives. But the specific reasons why these problems continue to exist, leading to human rights abuses of female inmates and their children, have not yet been answered among researchers in Ghana, and this research is poised to fill that gap. Financial constraint and sheer disregard for children and women’s rights and their vulnerability are some of the reasons found to be the causes of these woes. To draw the attention of stakeholders to these problems, a doctrinal analysis of both primary and secondary resources related to the topic was adopted. Consequently, the normative analysis and explanations of the materials, portray that, imprisonment is not serving its purpose and that, community service order is the best alternative for women offenders, so they can continue their caretaking responsibilities in accordance with the Bangkok Rules.