Addressing Parliament on the state of prisons in the country, he said the Finance Ministry’s approval has lingered despite all necessary steps taken to get the increment approved.

“Mr Speaker, the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ministry have made various attempts for the upward adjustment of the feeding rate from ¢1.80 to ¢5. I must acknowledge that this move to increase this rate precedes our coming into office.

“It’s not as if it is just us who have seen the need to promote that. We are, however, yet to receive approval for that,” the Nandom legislator said.

Many prison campaigners and activists had previously indicated that the ¢1.80 is inadequate.

In an interview with JoyNews, a Chief Superintendent of Prisons, Courage Atsem, decried the meagre feeding grants allocated to prisoners in the country, saying the money is “woefully inadequate.”

He noted that although interventions were made to supplement government funding, they have not been effective.

But the Interior Minister says their calls for the increment will not be in vain.

The feeding rate for prisoners in the country remains ¢1.80 for three-square meals (per head) per day in spite of the increasing cost of living.

During a meeting with the Judicial Committee of the Council of State at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, the Eastern Regional Commander of the Service, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP), Samuel Owusu Amponsah, said the situation make feeding the inmates difficult.

In spite of its meagre nature, the funds are, sometimes, also not released on time, CSP Courage Atsem disclosed.

“Sometimes, the releases don’t even come on time and as a manager, you can’t say ‘I’ve not received anything so I can’t feed my inmates.’ The inmates must eat so you need to perform some magic for the inmates to be able to eat,” he added.

Their liberty comes after the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative intervened in partnership with OSIWA by settling the court-imposed fines at the Kumasi Central Prisons.

The gesture forms part of an advocacy project aimed at decreasing the criminalisation of petty offences in the country.

Speaking to JoyNews, one of the released inmates, Atta Kwesi Nuako, a taxi driver, said he learned lessons as life in the prison was not easy and advised everyone to be cautious about friends and in all they do.

He was convicted for stealing by the Bekwi Circuit Court. For failing to pay a fine of GH¢336.00 he was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.

“I have learnt a lot of lessons here; it is not easy to be an inmate in the central prison. A group of 18 inmates, we sleep under one bed, and you cannot even turn whilst in sleeping position,” he said.

The Project Officer for access to Justice at the Initiative, Anthony Sedjo, said there should be a non-custodial sentence law so that some of these people will do community services or communal labour instead of imprisonment.

“We believe that people who commit petty offenses like hawking, like traffic offenses, should not find themselves in jail,” he said.

The Kumasi Central Prison is one of Ghana’s overcrowded prisons as it currently accommodates over 1,800 inmates although the facility was built to house 600 persons.

The Assistance Criminal Records Officer of the Kumasi Central Prisons, DSP Francis Yaw Apaw, said about 40 per cent of the inmates committed petty crimes such as stealing, assaults and traffic offences.

“Some prisoners are with petty fines; ¢300, ¢400, ¢500, ¢600, they are all bunched up here adding up to the serious congestion in our facility,” he said.  

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He, therefore, called on individuals, groups or organisations to intervene by also paying court fines of inmates with such offences who are languishing in cells.

“When we get such help, it will go a long way to ease the pressure on this facility. Averagely those with petty offences are the people that come in a lot; they contribute to about 40 per cent of the total population,” he revealed.

However, officials of the project hope the initiative, which has already seen some 60 inmates regaining their freedom, will help decongest the overcrowding prisons in the country.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, announced this at a press conference which was held at the headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service in Abuja on April 9. 

According to the Minister, those eligible for the pardon include inmates who are 60 years and above; those suffering from ill-health likely to result in death; convicts serving three years and above and have less than six months to serve; inmates with mental issues; and inmates with an option of fine not exceeding N50,000.

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Aregbesola said that out of the said number, 70 inmates will be released today from Kuje maximum custodial centre.

“In a symbolic gesture of the amnesty given to the 2,600 inmates across Nigeria, 41 Federal inmates and 29 FCT inmates making a total of 70 inmates who met the above criteria will be released today from the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja. This amnesty will not apply to inmates sentenced for violent extreme offences such as terrorism, kidnapping, armed banditry, rape, human trafficking, culpable homicide and so on.

The Governors of the 36 states under whose jurisdiction most of the inmates were incarcerated will complete the exercise in line with the federal principle,” he said.

Checks by Adom News revealed that the prison, which was built about 70 years ago, has not witnessed any major renovation with about 350 inmates sharing 10 bathrooms.

In an interview with Adom News during a health screening exercise by the Eastwood Ababa Ministries in the facility, they explained that all the inmates rely on 10 dormitories in the facility for accommodation.

“Our dormitories are congested with about 35 people sleeping in a single room leading to the outbreak of diseases in the facility,” they complained.

 The Deputy Director of Prisons and the Officer in-charge, Patience Baffour Boni appealed to well-meaning individuals to help solve the problem.

Director of Social Transportation at the Eastwood Anaba Ministry, Nana Jumor Sarpong urged the youth to be law abiding citizens.

Source: Adomonline.com| Richmond Kojo Hagan