No prison must allow inmates to use mobile phones

All over the world inmates serving various prison sentences are not allowed to use mobile phones except the phones provided and regulated by the authorities of the prison facility, the deputy public relations officer of the Prisons Service has said.

In an interview with Accra-based Hot FM, ASP Samuel Kofi Opoku was responding to a claim by the show host.

A research conducted by the morning show team of Hot FM revealed that the inmates in the prisons are responsible for the serial defrauding calls that often get to unsuspecting victims.

In reaction, ASP Opoku dismissed the research findings as vague and based on rumours and comments from some ex-convicts who consciously want to tarnish the image of the Service.

ASP Opoku indicated that some educated and right-thinking members of the society also indulge in these calls that lure unsuspecting victims to transfer huge sums of money to their mobile money accounts from several cases has been made at the police stations and the CID.

He revealed that some visitors in the first quarter of this year were searched and prohibited items like Indian hemp, mobile phones and cigarettes were found in the food items and containers. Such culprits are dealt with accordingly and handed over to the police for further investigations and necessary actions.

Officers who fall, victims of trafficking or smuggling prohibited items to the prison yard, are also given the deserving sanctions.

He added that mostly food like Banku and Kenkey have substances like tramadol and rolls of weed hidden inside.

ASP. Samuel Kofi Opoku made it very clear that despite the underlying challenges the service faces, all 13,149 prison inmates in Ghana enjoy the right to non-discrimination, right to freedom of conscience, thought and religion and the right not to be subjected to torture, cruel and inhumane treatment as evident in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He urged all corporate institutions, faith-based organizations, non-governmental organizations and every well-meaning Ghanaian to complement the efforts of government in ensuring higher standards in safe custody, reformation and reintegration of inmates to make them productive and law-abiding citizens.

Watch Laud Adu-Asare's interview with an ex-convict of Ghana's prison as he makes revelations: