Mr. Jonathan Osei Owusu presenting the items to the Tamale Central prisons
The POS Foundation together with its funding Agencies (GIZ/German Cooperation and Open Society Foundation/OSIWA) under the Covid-19 Prisons Response Outreach Project has donated PPEs to the Tamale Central Prison to help support officers towards the prevention of COVID-19 in the Prisons.
Some of the items donated are Vitamin C, veronica Buckets, automated hand washing machine and liquid soaps, bins, tissue, gloves, some food items worth 35,000 Cedis.
The foundation further donated a cheque of 1,500 cedis to the Tamale Central prisons to be used us transportation for onward distribution of some items to Yendi and Salaga local Prisons.
The Executive Director of POS Foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu urged President Akufo Addo to grant Pardon under Article 72 by reviewing the amnesty criteria and proposing the inclusion of among others, Convicted Non-Violent Drug Users (not Trade/traffickers) who are serving below 10 years from the old PNDC Law 236 and petty offenders to assist in decongesting the Prisons during these trying times.
“The POS Foundation and its Partners together with its donor agencies are willing to support the State for non-violent Convicted Drug Users who may need treatment to go through a period of rehabilitation and treatment within the pardon process period which is also in accordance with the new Narcotics Control Commission Law 2020 and international best practices as they pose no major threat to society but to themselves.”
Mr. Owusu called on government (Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and the Prisons Council) to speed up the passage of the Community Service Bill currently at the ministry of Interior and activate a Legislative and Constitutional Instrument for Probation and Parole respectively.
According to him, it will contribute significantly to the decongestion of Ghana’s prisons by giving offenders a second chance to reform hence serving as alternatives to incarceration as per best practice in other Jurisdictions.
The Acting Public Relations Officer of the Tamale Central Prison, ASP Isaac Amoako who received that items thanked the foundation for the gesture.
He called on other organizations and institutions to support the prison to enable them protect inmates and officers from contracting the virus.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale