Accra, April 3, – The Crime Check Foundation (CCF) is set to organise Africa’s first National Ex-Convicts Reintegration Conference to address stigma, unemployment and high reoffending rates among former prisoners in Ghana.
Mr Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Executive Director of CCF, described the situation as a “silent crisis”, affecting thousands of exconvicts struggling to reintegrate into society.
“Our data indicates that about 60 per cent of exconvicts reoffend and return to prison, largely because society does not welcome them,” he said, adding that stigma forces many former inmates into hiding.
The conference, themed “Rebuilding Lives After Prison,” will bring together key stakeholders, including representatives from the Presidency, Parliament, Judiciary, Ministry of the Interior, and the Ghana Prisons Service, as well as civil society organisations and the media.
Mr Kwarteng pointed to a major gap in Ghana’s criminal justice system, explaining that once inmates are released, no institution has direct responsibility for their reintegration, turning the process into what he termed “social warfare.”
He said the absence of a coordinated national reintegration framework continued to fuel repeat offending, noting that many exconvicts regularly reached out to the foundation for support.
The conference will showcase success stories of reformed exconvicts, while highlighting the challenges faced by those without skills, employment opportunities, or support systems.
A key focus of the event will be policy advocacy, including calls for government-led employment initiatives and a review of laws that restrict exconvicts from accessing public sector jobs for up to 10 years.
“We believe some of these provisions are inimical to rehabilitation and must be repealed,” Mr Kwarteng said, adding that parliamentary committees would be engaged to champion the reforms.
He also urged the media to help reshape public perceptions about exconvicts, warning that failure to do so would perpetuate cycles of reoffending.
“If we fail to demystify exconvicts, we will keep recycling the same people through our prisons,” he said.
Mr Kwarteng, a multiple award-winning journalist and prison reform advocate, has been honoured by the Ghana Prisons Service as an “Ambassador Extraordinaire of Prisons.” He is currently a PhD candidate in migration studies at the University of Ghana and also leads the Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project.
GHBUSS
03 April 2026
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