Prisoners Strip naked in protest against abuses

Ankaful, Cape Coast -- THERE WAS tension at Ankaful Prison last Thursday, as the inmates embarked on what they termed as ?wild demonstration? in protest against abuse of human rights.

Eyewitnesses accounts say about 45 out of almost 550 inmates from the main camp paraded themselves naked during the demonstration, which started at about 9:00am.

It took the entire prison staff almost five hours to calm the tempers. The prison officers were assisted by what they called ?black coat?, who are prisoners who liais between the inmates and the warders and are considered to command respect among the convicts.

A customer, who had gone to hire the services of the inmates, was completely overwhelmed by the action of the prisoners.These prisoners were so wild that they wanted to attacked the director of the camp, Mr. Eric Nordor, at his office.

The action of the prisoners, The Chronicle learnt, was due to the fact that the officer in charge had kept the inmates in the yard for almost two weeks and had refused them to go outside and work, in spite of the new directives from the headquarters whereby prospective customers are required to provide adequate information.

The prisoners, not withstanding the frustrations there, decided to fight for their rights.

According to the paper?s sources from the camp, the inmates argued that they were imprisoned to work for the government and not to be confined in the yard and that they were able to supplement their diet when individuals or companies came and hire them.

The inmates had asked the prison officer to send them back to Nswam Prison, where most of them came from, if he was not prepared to allow customers hire their services.

Soon after the prison staff had restored calm, a meeting was hurriedly convened and the leaders of the inmates channeled the grievances of the prisoners before the warders.

Among some of the issues raised was that a chief warder asked some inmates to clean up the house of Mr. Nii Boye Tagoe, the second in command?s bungalow, who was away for a six week course at GIMPA. According to them, they were sacked from the house by the regional director. This action of the director, which the inmates were not happy with, had created a rift between the two and other officers, which has affected the cordial relationship that existed among the inmates and the warders, the paper has learnt.

Also, they raised the issue of deliberate attempt by the regional director to frustrate prospective customers in their quest to hire their services.

It was also said at the meeting, some inmates complained about the burning of their footwear after one of them was caught concealing Indian hemp in his canvass shoes.

According to the prisoners, since the new directives came from the headquarters in connection with the hiring of inmates by customers, the Annex had not encountered any problems and the inmates performed their duties all right.

Ankanful Prison is one of the major labour supply prisons in the country and it has undertaken a number of projects in the region.