TAMALE CENTRAL PRISONS NEEDS MODERN STRUCTURES (PAGE 22, MAY 14, 2010)

THE Northern Regional Minister, Mr Moses Mabengba, has called for the construction of modern structures for the Tamale Central Prison.
He stated that such a measure would ultimately help reduce overcrowding at the prison due to the ever-increasing population of prisoners on remand.
“The current poor facilities at the prison are unsafe for habitation so stakeholders must help put up a new structure,” the minister stressed.
Mr Mabengba made the call at the inauguration of a seven-member regional prisons committee chaired by the regional minister.
The committee, whose membership comprised of officials and directors from the Ghana Health Service, Attorney General’s Department and traditional authorities, was tasked with the responsibility of identifying problems in the prisons and making appropriate recommendations to enhance proper management of the sector.
The regional minister observed that “from my occasional visits to the Tamale Central Prison after the escape of the notorious armed robber, Johnson Kombian, I noticed that the prison was very old”.
According to him, the prison was established during the colonial era “around 1928 and since then, the structure has never seen any major rehabilitation or expansion works”.
Mr Mabengba suggested that the new structure could be done in phases.
He announced that the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) would assist prison officers in Tamale to acquire decent accommodation through the South Korean Housing Project.
“It is therefore my hope that with the inauguration of the committee, we shall work closely with several partners like the judiciary, police, legislature, religious groups and non-governmental organisations to help integrate prisoners into the society after their release from prison,” he stated.
Mr Mabengba expressed regret that some of the workshops at the prison were idle for lack of tools, and stressed the need to revamp such facilities and equip them with modern equipment to enhance the reformatory and correctional process for prisoners.
The Chairman of the Prisons Service Council, Air Marshal John Bruce, expressed regret that the most recent annual report of the service indicated that 51.8 per cent of the inmates were between the ages of 18 and 25.
“The council is very disturbed about these figures because they represent a waste of human resources,” the chairman stated.
According to him, the service lacked the needed resources to enable them to offer meaningful training for those inmates.
He entreated civil society groups, the media, philanthropists and non-governmental organisations to support the prisons service, particularly in the area of integrating prisoners into the society.
Air Marshal Bruce also expressed concern about the low daily feeding grant of 60Gp that was woefully inadequate to provide inmates with meals of nutritional value.