Sekondi Central prison cells flooded as ageing drainage system buckles under heavy rainfall
Inmates at the Sekondi Central Prison endured hours of waterlogged conditions after heavy rainfall overwhelmed the facility’s drainage system, leaving cells flooded and prisoners with nowhere to go but to stand in rising water or spend extended periods scooping it out by hand.
The scene laid bare the consequences of housing more than 600 inmates in a facility originally built in 1902 to accommodate between 150 and 200 people.
When heavy rains strike, water flows into the low-lying sections of the overcrowded compound, trapping inmates in conditions that prison authorities and engineers have now confirmed are rooted in fundamental flaws in the facility’s drainage design.
A joint inspection by prison authorities and engineers from construction firm Viabuild identified a critical mismatch in the drainage infrastructure. Viabuild Health and Safety Manager Edward Lee Aflade explained the technical problem plainly.
“The inner drain is carrying volumes of water into the outfall, but the connecting ones lack the capacity to push it out. So it stays until the flow reduces before it can connect,” he said.
Director of Operations and Facility Management Benedict Bob Derry offered an equally blunt assessment, describing the system as one where a larger gutter had been built to feed into a smaller one — an arrangement that inevitably causes water to back up during heavy downpours.
He added that the prison’s low elevation compounds the problem, with runoff from surrounding areas flowing back into the yard during storms.
Western Regional Minister Joseph Nelson went further, arguing that the flooding was merely one of several compelling reasons the prison needed to be relocated entirely, describing its city centre location as unsuitable for a modern correctional facility.
“I’m not even saying this because of the flood situation alone — the location itself makes relocation necessary. It should be somewhere with more space and better security, away from the city centre,” he said.
The conditions at the Sekondi Central Prison reflect a wider challenge facing Ghana’s correctional system, where decades of overcrowding in ageing colonial-era facilities have created environments that fall far short of acceptable standards for the housing of inmates.
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