“I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in PRISON and you came to me’- Matthew 25:36-40.
The immediate past Prisons Service Council under the chairmanship of Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam left a legacy by initiating PROJECT ‘EFIASE’. The Project is aimed at transforming Ghana’s prisons into excellent centers reformation.
The Project which was launched on June 26, 2015, by former President John Dramani Mahama, seeks to create awareness of the inhumane conditions in Ghanaian prisons; fundraising to implement the 10-Year Strategic Development Plan; and to engage the Prisons Service in public-private partnership (PPP).
The core functions of Ghana Prisons Service are to ensure the safe custody and welfare of prisoners, as well as facilitating rehabilitation and reformation programmes whenever practicable. Meanwhile, the rehabilitation or reformation of prisoners have become a burden on the Service due to the increasing population of prisons inmates across the country.
The government is doing all it can to feed the inmates, but the feeding rate of GH¢1.80p per inmate is woefully inadequate to meet the Nelson Mandela Rules or the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR).
Consequently, this calls for all hands on deck to help improve the welfare of prisoners and other challenges, as enshrined in the Constitution of Ghana (Articles 205-208).
Project ‘Efiase’ seeks to solicit GH¢1.00 from every Ghanaian to raise 26 million from the citizenry to supplement government’s subvention in the various 43 prison establishments.
The 6th Prisons Council has for the past two years been able establish partnership with corporate Ghana and private organizations such as the Bank of Ghana, CDH Financial Holdings, National Investment Bank and the EPP Books Services to support Project ‘Efiase’. Such interventions have brought some form of relief to our brethren behind bars.
I wish to appeal to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or civil society groups from the health profession to come to the aid of the Service by providing screening, equipment and medical supplies (drugs) to stock the various infirmaries in the prisons.
This has become necessary because there is a thin line between prison healthcare and public health safety. There are quite a number of health foundations that can provide free health screening and treatment to the Prisons Service.
The officers and men of the Prisons Service, despite the scanty budgetary allocation, have performed creditably to rehabilitate most of the inmates. Some of the skills training in the prisons include bakery, art, tailoring, shoe-making, agriculture, table and door mats, carpentry and masonry, among others.
Unfortunately, most products from the prisons receive low patronage due to stigmatization. If well-meaning Ghanaians could patronize the quality products produced by inmates, it will go a long way to generate enough income to improve the welfare of inmates.
I wish to admonish the importers of foreign products such as food items to stop looking that far and partner with the Ghana Prisons Service, especially the camp prisons where agriculture is largely practiced. The farm produce can raise more capital to fund Project ‘Efiase’.
Let me take this opportunity to laud the Superior Officers and men of the Akuse Local Prison for the tremendous work. The Prison is cultivating a 36-hectre rice farm which if well marketed can bring in more revenue to the Service.
At the Senior Correctional Center in Accra, formerly known as Borstal, the young offenders produce several artifacts ranging from art works such as bags, pottery, beads and many more. The challenge is how to convince society to patronize these quality products.
The Prison is everybody’s second potential because, since there is a thin line between freedom and imprisonment. It therefore behooves all and sundry to make our prisons a better place. We should not let the inmates feel rejected because imprisonment in itself is punishment.
In 2016, the government performed a sod-cutting ceremony to begin the construction of a remand block at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison. The Remand Block, after completion, will have a clinic and other facilities to augment the operations of the prison.
Currently, there are 43 inmates’ holding prison establishments across the country and, if corporate institutions and every Ghanaian should donate at least GH¢1.00, the Service will be able to transform the various prisons into excellent centers of reformation.
Furthermore, the Ghana would make headway in meeting the Nelson Mandela Rules or the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Donate generously to facilitate successful reformation, rehabilitation and re-integration of inmates into society; making ex-convicts productive and law abiding citizens to ensure public safety.
You can donate through MTN Mobile Money by typing PE or Efiase and send to short code – 9050. Or call the Prisons Headquarters on 0302 76 00 93 for further information.
You can contact the writer on agyenfra43@gmail.com/0249542342
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