Jonathan Osei Owusu making the presentation to Supt Francis Dotsey
The Second-in-Command of the Tarkwa Prisons, Supt Francis Dotsey, has called for an upward adjustment of the GH¢1.80 feeding allowance for prison inmates.
According to him, the current GH¢1.80 daily feeding fee for an inmate is inadequate, adding, “An upward adjustment in the feeding allowance for prison inmates had become very necessary.”
He explained that the inmates needed to be fed well so they will be able to withstand diseases most common in the prisons.
Supt Francis Dotsey was speaking in an interview after Perfector of
Sentiment (POS) Foundation, presented assorted items to support the inmates of Tarkwa Prisons to protect them from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The POS Foundation is the facilitator of the Justice for All Programme and lead organisation in the advocacy for the Community Service Law.
The items included tissues, toilet rolls, gari, sanitisers, drugs, loaves of bread, liquid soaps, sanitary pads and nose masks among others.
He noted that the Tarkwa Prisons was built for a maximum of 127 inmates but currently it has 296 inmates including 55 remand prisoners.
He observed that the congestion at the prisons was severe during the COVID-19 lockdown period when the court suspended trial of cases.
He expressed gratitude to the organisation for the kind gesture and appealed to other institutions to emulate.
Mr. Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director of the foundation, said an important sector of the Ghanaian economy that merits critical attention until the coronavirus is eradicated, is the Criminal Justice Sector, particularly Ghana’s prisons.
He called on the President to activate Article 72 to grant amnesty to non violent drug users who have been convicted before the passage of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, Act 1019.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi