Prisons can be incubators for future entrepreneurs – Assistant

Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, Desire Klutse, has stated that correctional facilities should be viewed as centers for reflection, not condemnation, capable of nurturing future generations of entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the Ghana Entrepreneurship Forum in Accra on November 8, 2025, Mr. Klutse, alongside officers from the Nsawam Prison Complex, expressed enthusiasm for the Ghana Prisons Service’s evolving mission. He highlighted the official shift away from solely focusing on punishment and confinement towards a model centered on reformation and rehabilitation.

According to him, the service endeavors to train inmates in various skills, including woodwork, tailoring, baking, smock making, metal fabrication and welding, bead making, and entrepreneurship, to equip them with employable skills upon release.

Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Klutse emphasized that prison should be a place for reflection and rehabilitation, rather than a destination for hardened criminals.

“A lot of people think prison is a place hardened criminals are sent and condemned for the entirety of their sentence, but that is not true, it is a place for reflection and rehabilitation,” he said.

He cited the example of Simon Awolume, a young man who was discharged from prison two months ago with skills in garment making and an industrial sewing machine.

He added that research has shown that inmates who acquire entrepreneurial skills while in prison are less likely to reoffend.

To address the issue of recidivism, Director-General of Prisons, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, has initiated the Prisons 360 program, aimed at industrializing and expanding existing prison industries.

The reform program aims to equip inmates with essential employable skills and an entrepreneurial mindset. Mr. Klutse highlighted that those incarcerated are already producing various marketable items that could be sold to generate income.

To ensure the success of the inmates’ rehabilitation efforts, he specifically called on the public to collaborate with the Ghana Prisons Service to provide necessary support. “The Service has vast land at Nsawam, and officers and inmates with agricultural backgrounds can grow raw food materials for entrepreneurs in the food business.

The Ghana Entrepreneurship Forum, themed “Elevating through entrepreneurship, empowering generations of innovators and entrepreneurs,” drew numerous thought leaders and entrepreneurs.

Notable attendees included Eunice Botchwey, President of the Africa Entrepreneurs Alliance.