The Kumasi Central Prison
ASHANTI REGION has not recorded a single prison break case in the last seven years, a great feat which shows the superb work being executed by hardworking prison officers in the area.
Chief Superintendent of Prisons, Richard Bukari, the Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Prisons Service, who made the disclosure, said his outfit is proud about the positive development.
According to him, one of the key mandates of prison facilities in the country, is to work assiduously in order to ensure that no prisoner escape from confinement, therefore their feat is highly commendable.
“Ashanti Prisons has been able to achieve the mandate of the Ghana Prisons Service because not a single prisoner has escaped from the Kumasi Central Prison and other prisons in the region for seven years now.
“Our mandate at the prisons is safe custody. The prison is government property left in our care, so at any point in time, we should be able to account for all the prisoners. This is our main duty at the prisons.
“Thankfully, we have not recorded any escape in our prisons for seven years running, and we are pleased about this significant achievement,” he disclosed on Abusua FM in Kumasi.
According to Chief Supt. Bukari, just a single prison escape case reduces all the achievements that the particular prison facility has recorded to zero, so his outfit has done a marvelous work.
He also disclosed that overcrowding still remains the main challenge confronting the Kumasi Central Prison, saying, “it was built for not more than 500 people, but now we have over 1,600 inmates there.”
Tracing history, the Ashanti Prisons PRO said the Kumasi Central Prison was built in 1901 by the colonialist as a slave camp, adding that with time, it was transformed into a prison facility.
“Even as slave camp during the colonial era, it was meant not to take over 500 people, but sadly today, as a sovereign state, who believes in human rights, it takes over 1,600 inmates,” he lamented.
Chief Supt. Bukari announced that his outfit periodically transfers some of the prisoners from the Kumasi Central Prison to other prisons, to deal with the perennial congestion problems.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah, Kumasi