WORLD CAN LEARN FROM BURKINA FASO'S PRISON REFORM

Burkina Faso is catching international attention for what is perhaps one of the most progressive approaches to criminal justice. 

Prisoners in Burkina Faso's open-air Baporo Prison are learning to grow vegetables and grains for their nourishment and livestock-rearing skills to prepare them for the workforce in the agriculture-based economy. 

Unlike traditionally exploitative prison labour seen around the world, these prisoners are not mass-producing items for large companies. Instead, they only sell excess crops.

The prison holds no more than 44 people out of the 8,800 detained nationwide. According to World Prison Brief, Burkina Faso's prison rate is 39 people out of every 100,000. Meanwhile, the UN reports the average global imprisonment rate is 144 detainees out of 100,000.

The government of assassinated President Thomas Sankara (1949-87) first developed the concept in 1986. Now, President Ibrahim Traoré, whom many see as a 'Sankarist,' is revitalising it.

Credit: @rtburkina / @faso7_BF / @sigbf

Sources

https://trtafrika.com/africa/how-an-open-air-prison-in-burkina-faso-is-giving-inmates-a-second-chance-16592199

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_0Za6C9lhU

https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/burkina-faso/economy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJxnm74AGk

https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/thomas-sankara-and-the-stomachs-that-made-themselves-heard

https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/burkina-faso

https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/briefs/Prison_brief_2024.pdf

https://www.kampalaedgetimes.com/burkina-fasos-prison-reform-for-inmates

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