The Ghana Prisons Service, in collaboration with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to recruit 5,000 young men and women as Prisons Support Assistants.
The agreement was formalised on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Ministry of the Interior in Accra.
The new initiative is designed to not only expand the manpower base of the Prisons Service but also address the rising levels of youth unemployment in the country. Under the terms of the MoU, the YEA will be responsible for financing the training of recruits and will provide monthly stipends during the engagement period.
The Ghana Prisons Service will take charge of curriculum development, training, and eventual deployment of the support personnel nationwide.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Director General of Prisons Mrs. Patience Baffour- Bonnie (Esq.) emphasized the urgent need for more personnel to bolster several ongoing reforms and projects within the service, including the Clean Ghana Project, the Parole System (pending parliamentary approval), and the Prisons Industrialisation Drive.
She also urged stakeholders to rally behind the “Think Prisons 360 Degrees” campaign—an initiative aimed at building strategic partnerships to advance prison reforms and institutional development.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency, Malik Basintale, and the Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, Hon. George Opare Addo, both expressed their commitment to ensuring the programme succeeds.
They reiterated the importance of collaborative action in tackling unemployment while strengthening key state institutions.
The Minister for the Interior, Hon. Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, who witnessed the signing, acknowledged the President’s vision in promoting initiatives that create jobs and transform public service delivery.
He noted that this move is a continuation of similar partnerships YEA has entered into with institutions like the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service.
A joint Programme Management Committee will be established to oversee the effective implementation, coordination, and monitoring of the project.
The Prisons Support Assistants, once trained and deployed, are expected to contribute significantly to the daily operations of correctional facilities while gaining critical skills and work experience.
