Interior Minister inspects prison facilities at Nsawam

alice

August 6, 2016 4:40 PM

This is a follow up by the Ministry to support the Prisons authorities to decongest the Nsawam prison facilities.

The Minister for the Interior, Prosper Bani has visited the Nsawam Prison to inspect some of their prison facilities being built.This is a follow up by the Ministry to support the prison authorities to decongest Nsawam.

Pulse News' Alice Adu reports from Nsawam that the Minister went to inspect works on a project which begun two months ago aimed at reducing overcrowding at the prison.

According to Joshua Azure the consultant of the project from the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL) the building project, estimated to accommodate 800 remand prisoner, will be completed in the next 16 months.

“The building will have an administration, visitors' lodge, warehouse, kitchen, dormitories, clinic, football pitch a mosque and church.

“We also have other contractors putting up the fence wall and the security guard unit around the fence wall, at the end of the day we are aiming at accommodating 800 remand prisoners,” he told pulse.com.gh.

Meanwhile the Minister of the Interior assured the contractors he will do "everything" to speed up the project.

He further told the contractors to pass all challenges to the Director of Prisons, if need be.

The Director of Prisons, Mr. E. Adzator expressed gratitude to the Minister because the project will make it possible for the prison to separate those remanded and awaiting trial from those convicted.

He revealed that the remand population is about a third of the total population and this has compounded the issue of overcrowding “for which the Chief Justice in collaboration with the Ghana Prison Service has brought up a system called the justice for all program to quickly dispose of all remand prisoners to bring down the number.

“We currently have a high court just opposite the main yard which inmate will no longer travel to Accra to attend court."

The court will serve both male and female, he added.

Non-bailable offences and lengthy court proceedings have contributed to the large number of remand prisoners. Human rights groups have over the years criticized government for failing to decongest the prisons and not doing enough to ensure that cases do not spend so much time in court.

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

Get rewards worth up to $20 when selected to participate in our exclusive focus group. Your input will help us to make informed decisions that align with your needs and preferences.

I've got feedback!

alice