Ghana Prison Service commended over coronavirus measures

POS Foundation, the facilitators of Justice for All Programme, has commended the Ghana Prison Service for the preemptive protocols they have adopted following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in order to preserve the lives of inmates.

According to the Foundation, the stringent measures adopted by the Service have also contributed significantly towards safeguarding the security of prisoners in the country.

The Foundation, which is a community service law advocate, said the way and manner in which the Service had ensured the safety and proper wellbeing of inmates across the country during the Covid-19 pandemic was great and laudable.

The Foundation observed that but for the timely preemptive measures put in place and the hardworking effort of the prisons officers, the situation would have ended in chaos and insecurity in the country.

Mr Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director of POS Foundation made the commendation when he donated items to the Kumasi Central Prisons.

Mr. Owusu said “the Coronavirus pandemic could have a grave impact on the prisons in case of a possible outbreak of the virus across various prisons in Ghana, especially due to their high congestion rate and poor ventilation, coupled with the lack of a balanced diet from the feeding grant of GHC1.80 per day".

Mr. Owusu therefore appealed to government to provide adequate incentives and contagious disease allowance for prison officers for the dedication, professionalism and health risk taken in these crucial times.

“We entreat the prisons authorities and all officers to safeguard the good record and continuously adhere to the strict protocols."

He said though there is a gradual easing of restrictions by the State for the public, they must remain resolute as we celebrate their success story. We call on other organizations to come to the aid of prisons as these items are shared with prison inmates, prison officers and visitors,” he noted.

For instance, Mr Owusu said “the Nsawam Prison, with an original capacity of 815, is now home to about 3,305 prisoners while Kumasi Central Prisons holds 1,880 against its authorized capacity of 800.” Therefore, it would have been a disaster should the situation not be managed well at the prisons.

“Notwithstanding the prevailing challenges confronting the Prisons Service, the situation has been managed well across the various prisons in Ghana due to the pragmatic approach adopted by the Ghana Prisons Service since the outbreak.

Mr Owusu said “Managing the pandemic of this nature is an onerous task since the least miscommunication amongst the prison population could lead to a very chaotic situation.

In Cameroun, there was an insurgency of riots due to a hoax of suspected positive coronavirus cases amongst the prison population which took the President to intervene before calm was restored,

Fortunately for Ghana, the professionalism, strict adherence to precautionary security protocols and contingency plans put in place by Ghana Prisons Service, which include a health alert communicated regularly to the inmates, have worked to prevent and contain the spread of Covid-19,” he observed.

According to him, “the only case recorded so far in prison was that of a new inmate admitted to the Ankaful Maximum Prison, which is among the seven prisons across the country designated to receive new admissions for monitoring before inmates are transferred to a traditional prison.

“It was reported that some officers who came into contact with the infected prisoner were equally infected but received swift action and are currently in isolation responding to treatment."

From POS Foundation’s experience of work in prisons, Mr. Owusu said "we have always known that the plight of the Ghanaian prisoner is same as the prison officer because what affects one affects all".

Mr Owusu observed that the Ghana Prisons Service, in its own way of managing the pandemic, paid critical attention to officers, visitors and new admissions. For instance, officers were to adhere to strict protocol even when they were out of the prison facility.

According to him, Visitors have some hygiene protocols made available to them on entry into the facility with some restrictions while some prisons across Ghana have been selected to accommodate only new admissions.

This, Mr Owusu said was in line with protecting major prisons where congestion rate was high such as Nsawam Medium Security Prisons and Central Prisons at Kumasi, Sunyani and Koforidua.

The Foundation, together with its funding agencies (GIZ/German Cooperation and Open Society Foundation/OSIWA) under the Covid-19 Prisons Response Outreach Project, is donating PPE to Prisons across the country and supporting them with cotton materials for the production of about one million face masks (by prison inmates tailors and seamstresses) for the prisons and families of prison officers in support of the hard work by the Prison Service towards the prevention of Covid-19 in prisons.

The Foundation donated quantities of Vitamin C, Veronica buckets, automated hand-washing machine and liquid soaps, bins, tissue, gloves, some food items worth GHC41,000.00 to Kumasi Central Prisons and a cheque for GHC2,000 to be used as transportation for onward distribution of some items to Manhyia and Amanfrom local prisons.

The prisons that also benefitted from the donation included Kumasi Central, Tamale Central and Navrongo Local Prisons.

Their donation was funded by German Technical Cooperation (GIZ), while Open Society Foundation funded items presented to Nsawam Medium Security and Sunyani Central Prisons.