THE CHIEF DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF PRISONS
CENTRAL REGIONAL COMMANDER OF PRISONS
SENIOR PRISON OFFICERS
OTHER RANKS
MEMBERS OF THE PRESS
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I deem it a great honour to meet you this morning. As you are aware, since my assumption of office as the Minister for the Interior about four months ago, this is my maiden visit to the Ankaful Prisons. I have already interacted with your colleagues at the Headquarters and Nsawam Medium Security Prisons. The purpose of my visit is to interact with inmates and personnel of the service, learn at first hand some of your concerns receive suggestions and together with you try to chart a path for the future of the Service.

Currently, the prisons are holding 14,172 inmates in safe custody. This comprises 9,862 convicted prisoners and 4,210 remand prisoners. Government is deeply worried about the high remand population and is therefore putting in adequate measures to address it.

The Attorney-General and the Chief Justice in collaboration with the Prisons Service Council have instituted a project dubbed ‘Justice for All” which has culminated in the setting   of a special Circuit Court in the prisons. The project seeks to promote respect for the rule of law and human rights of remand prisoners by ensuring fair and expeditious trial of remand prisoners. Through this programme, a total of thirty-eight (38) prisoners have been discharged from prison custody. Let me take this opportunity to commend the Ghana Bar Association and the Centre for Human Rights and Civil Liberties (CHURCL) for providing pro-bono legal services to the inmates.

 To alleviate the suffering of prisoners and train them to become useful citizens and desist from crime, government is constructing an ultra modern maximum-security prison complex here at Ankaful. The first phase of the facility has cell blocks to ensure decongestion and proper classification according to each person’s crime. It is made up of four major blocks and two annexes. The two annexes will house people with specific illnesses. Each room will be shared by six persons.
It is worth mentioning that the liquid and solid waste generated by the inmates will be converted into bio-gas for cooking and fertilizer for vegetable production.
The second phase when completed will have a Junior High School, Senior High School and a Training Centre and classrooms for formal education for inmates. Government will construct five of such prisons in the country in the coming years for the training of inmates.

The United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) through the Ministry of the Interior donated television sets, computers and their accessories, stationery and furniture to aid the establishment of a Senior High School (SHC) in the prisons.  For the first time in the history of the Service, an ICT centre and formal education have been introduced at the Medium Security Prison, Nsawam.

The President’s Special Initiative on Distance Learning (PSI-DL) has been established in eight prison establishments namely, Nsawam male and female, Kumasi male and female, Tamale male and female, Ankaful main camp and Wa local prison. Further to these positive developments, the Non- Formal Education Division has extended its services to the prisons to support the illiterate inmates to learn to read and write before enrolling on to the various training programmes available in the prisons. 

Government has released an amount of GH¢88,201.50 to  the prison establishments for the purchase of tools, equipment, consumables, running cost and allowances to the study centre coordinators and tutors amongst whom are inmates with the requisite qualifications and who have availed themselves to support their colleagues to learn are receiving GH¢60 per month as teaching allowance.

 Gradually the country’s prisons are being turned into educational and training centre. The Senior Correctional Centre (SCC), formerly the Ghana Borstal Institute, which is the only Juvenile institution under the prisons, runs courses under the auspices of National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) for the inmates. Last year, it presented sixteen (16) inmates for Trade Test Grade II Examination and scored 100%.

 Before this Administration took over, most of the prison establishments in the country were using pan latrines.  This and other conditions in the prisons made both the officers and inmates susceptible to a host of diseases.  In order to reduce this risk Government has been able to convert almost all the pan-latrines in the country’s prisons into water-closet toilets through the HIPC Initiative.  Additionally government has released an amount of GH¢181,000 to register all Prison Officers, their dependants as well as the inmates under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable them access quality health care services.

Government is committed to improve the conditions in the prisons service. I will however, need your support in convincing the government and the general public that we have a Prisons Service for which more resources have to be spent to improve your conditions of service. Let the behaviour of the personnel both inside and outside the prisons be an indicator to everybody that we now have a new Prisons Service. Let us create a public friendly Prisons Service.
I cannot conclude this brief address without expressing my appreciation to corporate bodies which provided the items which are to be distributed to the inmates. These public spirited entities are, UNILEVER GHANA LTD, CADBURY GHANA LTD, LATEX FOAM RUBBER PRODUCTS GH. LTD, ASHFOAM GHANA LTD, 21ST CENTURY GHANA LTD AND DECORPLAST GHANA LTD.
We really appreciate your support and look forward for more when we come to you.  Thank you and May the Good Lord bless you all.