Prisoners threaten hunger strike over poor food

Inmates at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons have threatened to go on hunger strike if the condition of the food served them is not improved, reported the Chronicle newspaper.

The paper quoted some inmates in the incarceration centre of being insensitive to their plights.

“In fact, we are dying because of wickedness; we are being treated anyhow. If you see the type of food they serve us, you will cry for us,” an inmate said on condition of anonymity, according to the Chronicle.

“The prison officers are not doing anything to reform us. ”

However, the paper noted that authorities of the prison have denied the allegations insisting the inmates have no case.

Meanwhile, the paper alleged that its investigations reveal the food served “to inmates lacked all the six essential nutrients. ”

“It is not easy to get bread and butter on our tables over here,” another inmate intimated. Currently, inmates at the prison yard are fed on Gp 0. 60p per head daily, the paper said.

According to the paper, an unidentified source said the situation was more pathetic at the infirmary, as sick inmates are served porridge without milk and sugar. They alleged that a greater part of food donations made to the prisons by individuals, churches and other organizations end up in the homes of prison officers, while a small quantity trickles down to them.

The inmates, the paper said, pointed fingers at the Officer In-Charge, Deputy Director of Prisons, Ben Lartey, for being responsible for the dehumanising situation in the prisons, and doing very little to improve upon their welfare.

They, therefore, called for the immediate return of their former boss, Chris Lavy, failure of which they would go on hunger striker.

“We have vowed to go on hunger striker if the government fails to change the OIC, because he has done little to reform us,” the inmates served notice.

However, OIC Lartey told the paper that the prison has a perfect system of receiving donations from individuals, corporate bodies and religious groups, and that prison officers are barred from taking home donations meant for inmates.

“There is no way items that are donated to the prison will be left with prison offices to share. We have a way of receiving donations. Before anybody can make a donation to the prison, that person has to write officially to us.

“There is a donation book with a storekeeper who takes record of everything the prison receives. After acknowledging receipt of donations, we report to our headquarters for the authorities to know what we have received,” the OIC stated.

He also debunked claims that porridge are served without sugar, however, he admitted that inmates are not served milk

“As for milk, my brother, don’t go there. They are meant for children, and the government cannot afford it. If the inmates want milk, they should wait until they are released from prison custody,” he said.