Prisons Service Also Needs Your Assistance

Alhaji Malik AlHassan Yakubu, Minister for the Interior, has stated that the NPP government is committed to equipping the Prisons Service and other state institutions to meet their statutory functions.

He said, however, government alone cannot shoulder this heavy burden without assistance from larger society.

The Minister said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr. Yaw Barima, Minister for Works and Housing, at the closing ceremony of the Second Prisons Week in Accra on Friday.

He called on philanthropists, religious groups and corporate bodies to come to the aid of Prisons Service by donating tools and materials for workshops, as well as logistics to meet the daily needs of prisoners.

"Prisoners may have committed crimes against society, but they are our own kith and kin and we could do a lot to reform and rehabilitate them and get them out of crime," he said.

He said the government is taking a number of steps to improve the efficiency of the Prisons Service, adding that appropriate contacts are being made with foreign prison services for training opportunities for staff to help widen their horizon. There is a collaborative project currently underway with His Majesty's Prisons Service of the United Kingdom to help design a strategic development plan to guide the general direction of the Ghana Prisons Service, he disclosed.

There is also collaboration between the various stakeholders of the Criminal Justice System to make the agencies more efficient in the handling of cases of all prisoners.

Mr. Richard Kuuire, Director-General of Prisons, said given the necessary financial and material resources, motivation for both the staff and inmates and the necessary guidance, enormous wealth could be generated to meet the needs of not only the prison system but also the national economy.