Prisons Win Awards For Innovation In Service Delivery

The Ghana Prisons Service has been applauded for innovation in service delivery as it received three awards at this year�s Africa Public Service Day celebration hosted by the Public Services Commission of Ghana. The awards are in recognition of the innovative efforts by the Service in the areas of formal education for prison inmates, food production, and production and commercialisation of �alata� soap. The Service was presented with four laptops and three plagues. The Africa Public Service Day was instituted by the African Union to encourage open and accountable governance through public participation in the activities and services of public sector institutions. The day offers public institutions the opportunity to showcase their problem solving innovations as well as services and products that require public understanding and patronage. This year�s event, which was organised under the theme �Africa Public Service in the Age of Open Government: Giving Voice to Citizens�, also saw participating public institutions exhibit their policies, programmes and products to the general public at designated stands.Formal education was introduced in the Prisons in 2007 to address the educational needs of prison inmates whose education got truncated as a result of imprisonment. It has led to the establishment of junior and senior high schools in the Prisons and provided a unique opportunity for qualified inmates to continue their education while in custody. The reduction in cases of skin-related diseases among prison inmates also represents breakthrough in the Service�s quest to provide holistic health care to inmates. This success was due to the Service�s introduction and production of �alata� soap, noted for its medicinal efficacy in the treatment of various skin diseases. The awards included the strides of the Service in revenue generation, which has reduced the Service�s dependence on central government.