The outgoing Ashanti Regional Commander of the Ghana Prisons Service, DDP Samuel Yaw Tannor, has called for improvement in the welfare of inmates.
Speaking at a pull-out ceremony to bid him farewell, he bemoaned the poor conditions in the prison yards.
DDP Yaw Tannor said the health care of inmates and officers must be considered a priority by government and appealed for the establishment of a prisons hospital.
“Access to health care is now ‘cash and carry’. The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has been supportive in healthcare delivery to inmates but the delay by government in paying the bills of inmates and recent change in events at our health facilities poses a challenge in the treatment of inmates. I want to call on government to build a Prisons hospital like the military and police have for the inmates and officers. This could go a long way to better service conditions of officers and improve the welfare of the inmates,” he stressed.
He beseeched on government to increase the stipend of inmates.
“Government is trying but it’s woefully inadequate to spend Ghc1.80 to feed each inmate daily. Poor feeding could thwart the reformation process of inmates. Most often we depend on our prison farms and the benevolence of philanthropists to cater for them. We all understand the current hardship and it is obvious that there is the need for government to adjust funds released for the feeding of inmates,” he disclosed.
He further bewailed the poor state of sanitation in the Kumasi Central Prisons.
“We have over 2,000 inmates in the Kumasi Central Prisons and their public places of convenience is a major challenge. We don’t have enough facilities to manage their solid and liquid waste. We were supported with one biogas project. Unfortunately, it has not solved the sanitation problem and we call on the public to come to our aid,” he said.
The outgoing commander called on officers in the prisons service to exhibit professionalism and empathy in the handling of inmates in order to reform them.
“Not all the inmates here are criminals. We are mandated to reform them and rehabilitate them back to society. So I call on all officers to act as professionals in their duties and eschew from acts of indiscipline that could bring the image of the service to disrepute,” he admonished.
By Issah Zakariah|AkomaFM|Onuaonline.com
