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Regional News of Saturday, 15 March 2003

Source: GNA

Fifteen prison inmates register for NVTI exams

Fifteen prison inmates of the Tamale Central Prisons have registered to write the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) examinations this year.

The inmates specialised in dressmaking, needlework, masonry, carpentry and rural craft.

Mr Lawrence Atta Amankwanor, Northern Regional Prisons Commander told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Tamale on Thursday.

He said the hard work of Prison officers, who had to make use of the obsolete machinery at the prisons workshop, helped the inmates to acquire the requisite qualification for the examinations.

He said the service was in dire need of modern tools and materials to train prisoners to acquire employable skills to enter the job market after serving their term.

Mr Amankwanor said if prisoners were not given basic training skills to make them employable or self-employed, they would eventually be compelled to go back to their old habits, which would not be in the interest of society and would also be defeating the aim of prisons serving as institutions of reform.

He enumerated other problems facing the Tamale Central Prisons as the lack of decent accommodation for the officers, adding, "it is pathetic to see an officer with a family of four living in a very small room, which offers no privacy".

He said: "As the Regional Boss, I have no official vehicle but use my personal car for official duties".

The Commander said even though the Prisons had a capacity for 200 prisoners there were currently 248 inmates out of which 66 were on remand.

He said the most pressing needs of his outfit were accommodation for his officers, duty vehicles, as well as logistics and materials to train the inmates.

Mr Amankwanor explained that the Ghana Prisons Service was a subvented organisation and as such, it received a quarterly budget from the government, which was not enough to run the office.

He said the outfit was given 1.9 million cedis for the first quarter of this year to run the Prisons in the region.

Mr Amankwanor told the GNA that the Central Prisons in Tamale used an old bus to convey suspects to the courts and that in the event of any breakdown they had to walk.

He said occasionally, the Prisons depended on Dr Abdulai Salifu, a philanthropist and owner of "Shekina Clinic" in Tamale, for transport to convey the suspects to the courts.

On how the conditions of prisons in the country could be reformed, Mr Amankwanor, suggested that more funds should be provided to the Prisons Service to enable it do its work more effectively.

He also appealed to the various Regional Prisons Committees to brainstorm on how to make the prisons a true place of reform.