The Administrator of the Sunyani Central Prisons, Senior Chief Officer Isaac Gyekye, has called on government to, as a matter of urgency, review upward the feeding fee of prisoners in the country, which currently stands at GH¢1.80.
According to him, because of the inadequate amount allocated for feeding the inmates, they normally cook two 25 kilogrammes of rice for afternoon ration for the 851 inmates.
Senior Chief Officer Gyekye has, therefore, called on the Ministers of Interior and Finance to increase the current GH¢1.80 feeding fee for prison inmates in the country.
He also noted that the Sunyani Central Prisons is in dire need of toilet facilities, beds and mattresses for the inmates.
In a related development, the Brong Ahafo Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Prisons Service, ASP Vincent B. Ziniel, has appealed to the public to adopt Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms to resolve minor offences. He also appealed to traditional authorities to intervene and resolve minor issues in their communities instead of the citizens resorting to court.
He reiterated calls for the implementation of non-custodial sentencing to decongest the prisons.
ASP Ziniel entreated the general public to report minor offenses to traditional authorities for settlement rather than using the court, which imposes prison sentences, and in the process congest the prisons.
He also revealed that prison authorities are putting measures in place to implement a non-custodial sentencing which is to punish offenders by way of convicts working in the community. They could undertake sweeping, weeding or cleaning the community where he or she committed the offense to deter others from doing same. He said this will help decongest the prisons in the nation.
Under the President’s amnesty programme, 125 prisoners from the Brong Ahafo Region were freed.
The breakdown is as follows: Sunyani, 28; Duayaw Nkwanta, 29; Yeji, 17; and Kenyasi, 51.
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