OUAGADOUGOU — Burkina Faso’s government has introduced a bill aimed at reducing prison overcrowding by replacing certain custodial sentences with community service. The bill was adopted following the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday and forms part of broader reforms of the country’s justice system.

According to Burkina Information Agency, the bill seeks to alleviate the overpopulation of prisons by imposing community service for specific offenses. The goal is to reduce the automatic reliance on imprisonment, allowing for the deployment of certain prisoners into productive sectors such as agriculture and infrastructure. President Ibrahim Traoré has repeatedly emphasized the need to reform the prison system to better integrate prisoners into the workforce.