Behaviour of two officers is not representative of prison officers in general - PRO

The Ghana Prisons Service has clarified the recent incident involving two of its officers who aided a Chinese convict in escaping from lawful custody.

According to the service, this incident is an isolated occurrence and does not reflect the overall professionalism of its staff.

Two officers, Joseph Oteng and Sergeant Isaac Boateng Bonsu, are facing charges at the Accra Circuit Court for aiding the escape of a Chinese convict, Wang Xiao, from the Nsawam Medium Prison.

They are facing charges of conspiracy and aiding escape, according to a charge sheet filed by the prosecuting officer, Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu.

The PRO of the Prison Service, Superintendent Abdul Latif Adamu, while acknowledging the serious nature of the charges brought against the two officers, stated that the service had reaffirmed its commitment to comprehensive training and adherence to professional standards among its personnel.

“Our organisation, as I mentioned, has standards. We have our training protocols and our behavioural codes. It is rather unfortunate that this happened, and I can assure you that it is because of issues like this that we have sanctions for workers who may act contrary to the codes of conduct of any organization.

So, for now, I wouldn’t want to comment on that because the case is still in court, and we want to see what the outcome of the case will be before we can comment on it.

“As the military will always tell you, in any given situation, there are some levels of casualties allowed. So I don’t think the behaviour exhibited by these two officers is a true representation of the behaviours of prison officers in general because these are only two out of thousands of prison officers who are behaving and going about their daily duties professionally.

“... So, yes, we don’t condone that. We frown on that. But we can assure you that our officers are professional, and we will also continue to educate them so they can be more professional in their line of duty,” he stated.

Background

The prosecutor of the case in court on February 7, 2024, stated that Oteng and Bonsu were tasked with escorting Wang Xiao to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.

However, after Xiao was treated at the hospital's Dental Department, the two officers purportedly agreed to accompany him to the Oceans Hotel in Korle Gonno, under the pretence of meeting his wife, in exchange for a reward of GH¢1,000.

The prosecutor added that Oteng and Bonsu facilitated Xiao's meeting with his alleged wife in a hotel room.

Subsequently, Xiao and his supposed wife escaped via the hotel room's balcony while the officers waited in the reception area.

The prosecution revealed that, upon discovering Xiao's escape, the accused officers attempted to conceal evidence by hiding the handcuffs at Tema Station Hockey Stadium.

They then allegedly misled their superiors at the prison, claiming that Xiao had escaped after being approached by an unregistered Toyota Vitz taxi.

However, their attempts to cover up the incident were controverted when CCTV footage from the hotel was made available.

The report added that, during investigations, the accused led police to the hotel and a review of CCTV footage revealed that the convict and his wife jumped from the balcony of the first-floor building and fled while the accused were relaxing in the reception area after receiving meals from the convict’s alleged wife.

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NW/SARA

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