Project for ex-convicts to take off soon

Accra, Sept. 9 GNA - The first "Half-Way House" Project, which will prepare and condition ex-convicts towards better adjustment and final re-integration into society will soon take off in the country.

According to a statement issued by the Ghana Prisons Service in Accra on Thursday, a stretch of land for the realisation of the project expected to commence in the first quarter of next year has been released to members of Akuse Presbyterian Church.

The project is estimated to cost 100,000 dollars. Mr Jim Thomas, Member of First Presbyterian Church of Slidel, Louisiana said this at a meeting with the Director-General of Prisons, Brigadier Alex Kwashie Djangmah and the Chairman of the Prisons Service council Professor Patrick Twumasi.

Mr Thomas, an ardent supporter of the activities of the Presbyterian Prison Fellowship of Ghana (PPFG), is in the country to find out how the PPFG is faring and what further assistance he can give for a positive impact on the lives of prison inmates.

He said the institutions would engage the ex-convicts on banana and pineapple plantations among other things as part of the rehabilitation process. He commended Prison Officers for their commitment and positive attitude to their duty, during a retreat he held for them.

Prof. Twumasi commended Mr Thomas for the selfless assistance he has so far rendered to the prisons through the PPFG. He said the building of new prisons was under way in the country and appealed to the Mr Thomas and other institutions and well meaning individuals to assist in equipping them with trades training tools and machinery to make the inmates productive.