Kwaku Gardiner, Recovery Ambassador of Chosen Rehab Center, has dismissed the idea that prison reforms inmates, stating that inmates often learn criminal behavior there and practice it upon release.

Speaking during a drug abuse sensitization program for students at the Opportunity Industrialization Technical Institute (OITI), organized by Chosen Rehab Center, Gardiner shared his personal experience to warn the youth against drug abuse.

“I have spent 14 years in prison out of my 51 years of life, so I have no reason to lie to you that prison is good. Prison is not a place where people go to change. If it were truly a reformation center, I wouldn’t have ended up there four times,” Gardiner said.

According to him, inmates share details about the crimes that led to their imprisonment. “If I didn’t know how to break into a house, I would meet someone who was jailed for burglary. He would explain his mistakes, I would learn from them, refine the method, and use it myself. That’s where I learned fraud. When I came out of prison, I started producing my own ‘Genius’ and selling it to people to drink for money,” he said.

Gardiner revealed that he learned how to commit fraud while in prison. Posing as a tax collector, he designed a fake VAT ID card at an internet café and defrauded people of over GHC 3.5 million before he was eventually arrested.

“It was all because of drug addiction that landed me in prison for so many years,” he said. “It was Chosen Rehab Center that helped me stay away from drugs.”

Kway Gardiner cautioned students not to experiment with drugs, stressing that “it kills your future.”

He appealed to the government to intensify the fight against crime and to support rehabilitation centers in their campaign against drug abuse.

Report by Bernard K Dadzie Greater Accra Region