The government has approved an upward review of the daily feeding allowance for inmates, raising it from GH¢1.80 to GH¢5 — the first increment in 15 years.
The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, announced the adjustment during his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. He explained that the new rate, which has received presidential approval, will be captured in the 2026 Budget, with GH¢10 million allocated to cover the last quarter of this year.
Members of the PAC welcomed the move but noted that the old GH¢1.80 allocation, unchanged since 2010, was far from sufficient to provide three daily meals for prisoners.
The Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, also told the committee that the poor feeding system had long affected the health and welfare of inmates. She cautioned that food shortages were often the main trigger of unrest in prisons, highlighting the importance of better resourcing.
A member of the committee, Sebastian Fred Deh, compared the prison allowance with the GH¢2.50 per child under the school feeding programme, describing the situation as a breach of the Mandela Rules, which call for adequate nutrition for inmates. He appealed to the government to release the approved funds promptly to ease the pressure on the Service.
Mrs. Baffoe-Bonnie further revealed that prisons had been relying on gardens, fish ponds, poultry projects, and occasional donations from churches to supplement meals. While welcoming the new GH¢5 rate, she stressed that the Service would continue to advocate for further adjustments in the 2026 fiscal year to reflect the actual cost of feeding adults in custody.
