"My jail term is too much," - 17-year-old boy

Accra, Nov. 5, GNA- A 17-year- old boy, serving a five year jail term for stealing a fridge motor and other electrical appliances at the Winneba Prisons on Saturday appealed to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Office to mitigate his sentence.

Eric Boafo said: "Please the sentence imposed on me by a court in Winneba is too much and I cannot complete my sentence with regards to the existing conditions in the prison."

Boafo made the appeal when leaders and representatives of agencies in the administration of criminal justice in the country paid a visit to the Winneba Prisons to have first hand in formation on the conditions pertaining at the prisons.

The agencies including, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, the General Legal Council, the Prisons Council, and Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of the Interior are attending a workshop to finalise and adopt an action plan for non-custodial sentencing in Ghana.

Boafo, born on May 7, 1988 was convicted on September 27 2005. He pointed out that life at the prison was unbearable he needed to get out of the adult prisons.

Wellington Yankson, leader of the inmates complained after ventilation in the various the cells. He said due to lack of ventilation, most inmates suffer from various skin infections adding, "the situation has become worse when our windows are being blocked partially."

Yankson said "whenever we write to our relations and authorities on matters pertaining to our sentence we don't get any response."

Other inmates lamented about how they had been languishing in cells stressing that they were not being sent to courts and how Police prosecutors had misinterpreted some of their offences to them. A tour at the various rooms of the prison showed that there were few beds for some inmates. Some inmates sleep on blankets and towels in congested spaces available.

Addressing the inmates Mr. Kwame Osei-Prempeh, Deputy Minister Attorney General and Deputy Minister for Justice said government was concerned about their plight, adding that steps were being taken to ensure that various prison were decongested.

He noted that conditions pertaining in various prisons were deplorable hence the need to improve and resourced them.

Chief Superintendent of Prisons (CSP) Jacob Teiko Tagoe said the Winneba Prisons has a maximum capacity of 96, but now had 199 inmates, with number rising to 250.

When CSP Tagoe was asked about the feeding fee of the inmates, he said the inmates were entitled to 4,000 cedis for a three square meal adding, "We try as much as possible to give them sliced size of fish twice a month."

He complained about lack of accommodation for staff, saying, "this issue needs a serious attention as it is becoming a security threat to the increasing prison population."