Kumasi Prisoners cry over deteriorating conditions

Some inmates of the Kumasi Central Prison say they are forced to reject the food fed them and go hungry due to the bad food and deteriorating conditions there.

rawgist.com’s source in the prison told Kwabena Danso-Dapaah conditions in the cells and healthcare services in the prisons are extremely appalling.

“The prison food is so bad that we often reject them,” the starving prisoner told this reporter.

The inmates complained that suspects are subjected to horrendous treatment by prison officials..."We are treated like others on death row,” the source alleged.

Interior Minister, Mark Woyongo, has hinted it is increasingly becoming difficult for the government to feed prison inmates across the country.

Prisoners, according to the minister, are currently being fed on Ghc1.80 per head mainly due to overcrowding and inadequate resources.

Despite the holding capacity of 7,000 prisoners nationwide, the prisons actually contain about 14,000 inmates.

Currently, there is overcrowding up to 300 percent, making the inmates vulnerable to communicable diseases.

The Kumasi Prisons does not have a doctor to respond to distress calls of sick inmates. Once prisoners are locked in, warders do not respond to cries of inmates, a source said.

People with psychiatric problems are refused referrals by officials of the prisons. The prisons medical facility has no drugs. Suspects awaiting trial are placed in the same cells with condemned prisoners; investigations revealed.