Do more to de-congest the country’s prisons- Archbishop

Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Kumasi, the Most Reverend Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, has appealed to the government to make deliberate efforts to de-congest the country’s prisons.

He described the present situation at the prisons as unhealthy and dehumanizing and said everything must be done to bring about an improvement.

Archbishop Anokye made the plea in homily at a Christmas mass held at the Kumasi Central Prison.

It has become an annual ritual of the church to worship with inmates of the prison during the yuletide.

He called for society to do more to aid the reformation and integration of prisoners.

Premium should be put on training them in trades and vocations that would help them to become economically self-supporting after they had regained their freedom.

Archbishop Anokye counseled the prisoners to give up on their bad ways and criminal conduct.

He said he found it worrying to see some of them after serving out their sentence return to the same crimes and said they could never win public sympathy if they persisted in doing that.

Deputy Director of Prisons Emmanuel Adjator, the Ashanti Regional Commander of Prisons, praised the Catholic Church for its continued support and care for the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the prisoners.

The Church's ministration had touched hearts and brought tremendous changes to the attitude and conduct of many of the inmates, he observed.

He appealed to the church to help the prison authorities to tackle sanitation problems at the facility.

The Rev. Father Martin Paddy, Chaplain of the Prisons, commended the various societies within the church which had been visiting and presenting gifts in support of the upkeep of the inmates.