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This was revealed by the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Prisons Service, Superintendent Courage Atsem.
According to him, inmates sleep in congested rooms, which make it very difficult to observe any form of social distancing.
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“Social distancing is something, I must say, is almost impossible for us to do in our prisons,” Supt. Atsem told Accra-based Class FM.
“The best that we can do, especially in the central prisons, which are a bit bigger in terms of space within the compound, [is that] they can manage some form of social distancing within the day but in the night where inmates are put in congested rooms, it’s extremely difficult to observe social distancing.”
Ghana’s Coronavirus case count continues to rise, with the infections recently surpassing 12,000 while the death toll stands at 66.
Earlier this week, an inmate at the Kumasi Central Prisons was isolated at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Ghana Prisons Service said, while it cannot control the congestion in prisons, it is putting in place measures to ensure the virus does not spread into the various prisons.
“Apart from the protocols that the President has asked us to observe, the Prisons Service has also put in place further measures aimed at preventing the disease from entering our prisons.
“Some of the measures include the suspension of all group or church-related activities from outside and suspension of all contact visits by family members,” Supt. Atsem added.