By Fredricka Mensah
The Deputy Chief Superintendent of Prisons, Tarkwa Division, Francis Dotsey has called on the Government to as a matter of urgency review upwards the current feeding grants of inmates from GHS 1.80 per head.
He said the current rate poses a challenge to the service as it is impossible to provide adequately for inmates, but rather have to constantly rely on the benevolence of individuals and Corporate organizations for support.
Mr. Dotsey stated this when the Perfector of Sentiments, POS Foundation donated some items to the Prison. The items donated include, tissue papers, packets of T-roll, hand sanitizers, gallons of liquid soap, nose masks, vitamin C, gari and sanitary pads among others.
Deputy Chief Superintendent Dotsey said the prison currently houses about 296 inmates including 55 remand prisoners which is not the best, adding that it has brought about congestion due to the non-expansion works, while the criminal population increases.
He thanked POS Foundation for the gesture and also called on other institutions and benevolent individuals to go support the service to enable them to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently.
The Chief Executive Officer of the POS Foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu interacting with the media after the donation commended the Ghana Prisons Service for their efforts in combating the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the various prisons across the country. He said the gesture is to compliment the already strategic measures put in place by the prison service in helping prevent Covid-19 virus from entering into the country’s prisons. He further called on the Government to grant Pardon under Article 72 by reviewing the amnesty criteria and also pardon convicted Non-Violent Drug Users who are serving below 10 years per the old PNDC Law 236 and petty offenders to assist in de-congesting the Prisons during these trying times.
Mr Osei Owusu also called for the passage of the Community Service Bill as it will contribute significantly to the de-congestion of Ghana’s Prisons by giving offenders a second chance to reform, hence, serving as alternatives to incarceration as per best practice in other jurisdictions.
The POS Foundation, non-governmental organization is the facilitator of the Justice for All Programme and lead organization in the advocacy for the Community Service Law and is being funded by the Covid-19 Grassroots Justice Fund under the Covid-19 Prisons Response Outreach Project.
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