Mental Health Experiences Among Inmates Serving Life Sentences in Ghana Prisons

• Author: Frank Darkwa Baffour,Mark David Chong,Nonie Harris,Abraham P. Francis
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567720963718
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

Original Article

Mental Health Experiences

Among Inmates Serving Life

Sentences in Ghana Prisons

Frank Darkwa Baffour

1

, Abraham P. Francis

1

,

Mark David Chong

1

, and Nonie Harris

1

Abstract

In Ghana, a convicted person is not entitled to parole. The only hope for their return into the

community is either completing the sentence or government amnesty. However, recidivists on life

sentences are completely denied the chance of returning into the community. This coupled with the

demand of adjusting to the country’s prison conditions affects the mental well-being of life-

sentenced inmates. This study explored the mental health experiences of life-sentenced inmates.

An interpretive phenomenological approach guided the analysis of qualitative data collected from

21 life-sentenced inmates who were serving terms in three selected prisons. We employed the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) and International Classification

of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) mental disorder symptomologies to situate the participants’

narration of their experiences. The participants reported feeling sad, hopelessness, and having

sleepless days and nights due to thinking about their perceived spoiled plight. They also experienced

stress and were fearful of uncertainties due to perceived prison officer apathy and harsh prison

conditions. Additionally, the participants resorted to drug use as a means to cope with their mental

health experiences. The participants’ descriptions of their experiences were consistent with some

symptomologies of mental disorders as provided in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 and call for the creation of

mental health treatment services in the country’s prisons to improve the mental health of inmates.

Keywords

forensic mental health, Ghana prisons, life-sentenced inmates, ICD-11,DSM-5

Mental health disorders are a global public health problem with rates in prison inmates increasing

at an exponential rate (Grassi et al., 2018). This is particularly pressing issue because studies

conducted in jurisdictions outside of Ghana have shown that life-sentenced inmates tend to suffer

from severe mental disorders (Leigey, 2010). Life-sentenced inmates (as compared to their nonlife-

1

Collage of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Douglas, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Corresponding Author:

Frank Darkwa Baffour, Room 134, Building 4, 1 James Cook Drive, Collage of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook

University, Douglas, Townsville, Queensland 4814, Australia.

Email: frank.baffour@my.jcu.edu.au

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2022, Vol. 32(1) 5 23

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sentenced counterparts) are more likely to experience suicide ideation (Dye & Aday, 2013) and

depression (Dye et al., 2014), and Stoliker (2018) has already pointed out the correlation between

mental health complications and suicide. In addition to suicide, life-sentenced inmates are more

likely to have adjustment problems and engage in misconduct, and this increases when they are

suffering from mental disorders (Cunningham et al., 2016). According to Tsopelas (2016), all prison

inmates are at high risk of experiencing mental health complications but that of life-sentenced

inmates needs special attention.

Yet, over the years, the area of inmates’ mental health in Ghana has received limited attention

from researchers and other stakeholders (Ibrahim et al., 2015). The lack of research and national

interest has been contributed to the general belief held by the Ghanaian public that poor mental

health is a spiritual rather than health condition (Gyamfi et al., 2018). According to Roberts et al.

(2014), some people with mental health complications prefer to access treatment from faith-based

and traditional healers due to the belief that their conditions are as a result of spiritual attack or

witchcraft. Arias et al. (2016) explained that the causes of mental health are largely attributed to

demonism, witchcraft, and supernatural reasons. Due to this, mental health complications have been

left to be addressed by faith-based and traditional healers (Ae-Ngibise et al., 2010) and have

garnered little public and scholarly attention (Jack et al., 2013).

Statistically, even though there is still not a nationwide survey done on the epidemiology of mental

health, the rate is estimated to be high in Ghana. A study conducted by Doku et al. (2012) estimated

that approximately 600,000 people of the 24 million population of Ghana were suffering from mental

health problems. The World Health Organization’s (WHO, 2013) report on mental health in Ghana

estimated that out of the 21.6 million residents, almost 1 million were suffering from mental health

complications. In 2015, Ibrahim et al. reported that this number had increased to 2.4 million, indicat-

ing a rapid surge in the rate of mental health problems among Ghanaians. The increase in reported

mental health rates might be as a result of the efforts made by researchers (and other stakeholders) to

extend their investigations into faith-based organizations and traditional healers (Arias et al., 2016)

who dominate mental health treatment in Ghana (Ae-Ngibise et al., 2010).

This is evident in a mental health report in Ghana which indicated that there were 10 psychiatrists

compared to 13,074 doctors in Ghana (Ghana Health Service, 2009). Further, there is no psychiatrist

assigned to any of the 43 prison facilities in Ghana, even though mental health problems are common

among inmates (Ibrahim et al., 2015). Mental health medications are also expensive and not sub-

sidized (Ministry of Health [MoH], 2013). Therefore, given that prison inmates in Ghana do not have

access to income, and the government and other stakeholders do not have any financial allocation to

cater for inmates’ mental health, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to identify and treat mental

disorders among inmates.

Sadly, prisons in Ghana tend to be overcrowded, and this has led to the spread of infectious

diseases among inmates and prison workers (Sarpong et al., 2015). In addition to physical ailments,

the inmate population in Ghana experience significant mental health complications (Ayamba et al.,

2017). Unfortunately, the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) lack sufficient professional staff such as

criminal justice social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists to adequately address this issue. As

a result, inmates invariably develop mental disorders which are often neglected and usually person-

ally dealt with by the prison inmates themselves (Afari et al., 2015).

In Ghana, research on life-sentenced inmates is scant and globally, this population has been

neglected (Leigey & Reed, 2010). In the correctional system prison officers (Liu et al., 2017),

recidivists (Dako-Gyeke & Baffour, 2016) and inmates who are serving discharged-sentences

(Fisher et al., 2014) have attracted global researchers’ attention, but the same cannot be said about

their life-sentenced counterparts. In fact, the impact of incarceration on inmates’ psychological well-

being has been documented (Turney et al., 2012), and this is extreme among those serving life

sentences (Dye & Aday, 2013; Leigey, 2010). In most developing countries, including Ghana

6International Criminal Justice Review 32(1)