Gov't Will Improve Prison Conditions – Bawumia

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has stressed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government's commitment to improve the conditions in the various correctional (prison) facilities nationwide.

He gave the assurance when he visited the Nsawam Medium Security Prison last Friday to commission two boreholes.

In addition to that was a presentation of two giant water reservoirs donated by Polytank Ghana Limited, to the facility.

It was partly in fulfillment of a pledge he made when swearing in the members of the Prisons Council a few months ago.

The gesture is expected to be replicated across all prison facilities in the country as assured by the vice president during the visit.

The Nsawam Prison currently holds a quarter of the prison population in the country, serving as an incarceration centre for some 3,213 male prisoners as against the original capacity of 800.

It therefore came as no surprise when the vice president said, “As we look at the life of our inmates in the country, quite frankly, the president is not happy with it.”

That, Dr Bawumia said, was because “One of the major objectives of prison is not just to punish people but to reform and rehabilitate people. It is important that the conditions under which people live in prisons be human conditions.”

Present at the ceremony were the Deputy Minister for Interior, Henry Quartey; the Eastern Regional Minister and his Deputy, Acting Director of Prisons and the Eastern Regional Director of Prisons.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent