Per the experience of a former prisoner at the Sunyani Central Prison, inmates who are caught engaging in homosexuality were severely punished to serve as a deterrent.
According to Alexander Wiredu, who was jailed for three years and six months for defrauding by false pretences, the punishment for such prisoners mostly included canning or chaining.
Speaking specifically to his experience at the Sunyani Central Prison, he recounted that some inmates who were caught in a particular instance were given about 15 lashes, chained and left at the mercy of the weather.
Wiredu said “Anyone who tells you that homosexuality is not going on is a very big liar. It even happened when I was there…Early in the morning when we woke up, they started making noise just to let people know that something has gone on, man-man affair. They took those involved to the officers and they confirmed that it happened…”
“The officers will give them about 15 lashes and put them in chains from morning to 12 in the evening.”
Adding, that they are either separated thereafter or allowed back into the yard.
Alexander Wiredu attributed the proliferation of such sexual scandals to the rough prison life, which a huge chunk of inmates could not withstand.
“Prison life is very very rough…people who take part are those who have been in the house for very long years and so when those who cannot cope with the hunger come, they just go to those people because they will let them know they’re the bosses and they can give them better sleeping spaces,” he told GhanaWeb’s Laud Harris Adu-Asare.
Alexander Wiredu made these revelations on #SayItLoud.
