Crime Check calls for National Ex-Convicts Reintegration policy

Crime Check Foundation (CCF) has called on government to develop and adopt a comprehensive National Reintegration Policy to guide the reception, support and employment of returning citizens in Ghana.

The call was made at the maiden National Returning Citizens Reintegration Conference 2026, held in Accra, on the theme: “Rebuilding Life After Prison: Effective Reintegration for a Better Society.”

Speaking at the conference, the Executive Director of CCF, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, said Ghana currently has no clear national policy on what happens to a person after prison, leaving thousands of former prisoners to struggle alone with stigma, unemployment and rejection. “We have a policy for punishment. We have a policy for imprisonment. But we have no policy for receiving people back. That is why many of them return to crime not because they want to, but because society has closed every door against them,” he said.

Mr Oppong Kwarteng said the absence of a policy means reintegration is left to chance, charity and the goodwill of a few organisations, while state institutions, employers, landlords, banks and communities act without guidance. He proposed five pillars for government to consider.

1.A National Reintegration Policy that will be a shared responsibility of The Prisons Service, Social Welfare, Ministry of Employment, Ministry of Local Government, and the Private Sector.

2.The need for every District Assembly to have a Reintegration Desk, with a Social Welfare Officer, a Prisons Officer, a Religious Leader, and an employer to receive, counsel, and monitor returnees in their own community.

3.A confidential national database of discharged persons, their skills, and support given, to measure what works and what does not.

4.Expungement of records for minor Offences after five years of good behaviour, and removal of the blanket requirement for Police Clearance for Low risk jobs.

5.A Reintegration fund which could be a percentage of the District Assemblies Common Fund, and Private Sector contributions, to support skills training, start-up tools.

Mr Oppong Kwarteng also called for the policy to include protection for employers who employ returning citizens, including insurance cover, tax incentives and a clear code of conduct for both employers and employees. “Reintegration is not charity, it is national security. Every returning citizen we fail to reintegrate is a potential return to prison, and a potential threat to public safety. Everyone we successfully reintegrate is a worker, a taxpayer and a responsible citizen,”

He said the conference brought together the Ghana Prisons Service Council, the Judiciary, the Ghana Prisons Service, business leaders including Rabotec Group and ALSALE Limited, traditional leaders, religious leaders, civil society and hundreds of returning citizens. Participants unanimously backed the call, describing the lack of a national policy as the biggest gap in Ghana’s criminal justice system.

The Chairman of the Ghana Prisons Service Council, Apostle (Ing.) Alexander Nana Yaw Kumi-Larbi, who launched the Employ One Returning Citizen campaign at the conference, said the Council supports the call and will work with government to make reintegration a national priority.

The Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Mrs Patience Baffoe-Bonnie (Esq.), also stressed that rehabilitation inside prison will achieve little if there is no structured support outside prison.

CCF urged the Ministries of Interior, Employment, Youth Development, Gender, Children and Social Protection, and the Attorney-General’s Department to lead the development of the policy, with input from returning citizens themselves. He added that CCF is ready to provide data, research and recommendations from its years of work with prisoners and returning citizens to support the drafting of the policy.