UT donates to juvenile prisoners on Christmas

Accra, Dec 25, GNA - UT Financial Services on Friday donated food items to Angel-Zoe Foundation, an NGO assisting women and juvenile prisoners, for the upkeep of inmates at the Senior Correctional Centre in Accra. Items donated included 50 bags of rice, quantities of assorted drinks and quantities of packed cooked food.

The company also took time to celebrate the Christmas with the inmates and was treated to some performances.

Captain Budu Koomson, Group Chief Officer of UT Financial Services, who led a team of employees to present the items, said: "it is rewarding to donate to the underprivileged especially those at places such as the SCC that are almost forgotten by society".

Captain Koomson said the motive for the donation was to encourage the inmates to strive hard and break the odds to become responsible persons in society. "Today is Christmas, a time to show love, care and share things. We can choose to celebrate it with our families but we are here with you because we believe our presence here can make a difference in your lives", he said. When asked about how much the items cost, Captain Koomson said 'we at UT do not believe in putting monetary value on gifts but rather the purpose of which they are gifted'.

He advised the inmates to turn a new leaf when released and work hard to achieve their potential because 'you are young and still have life ahead of you'.

Mrs. Elizabeth King, Deputy Director of Prisons in-charge of SCC, who together with Mrs. Abena Antwi, Founder and Chief Executive of the Angel-Zoe Foundation received the items, said the SCC had moved from acting as a safe custody for inmates to correcting them for proper re-integration into society.

Mrs. King said the SCC equipped inmates with both formal and informal education to enable them to acquire skills which would earn them a living. She said the SCC achieved 100 per cent success with the 17 candidates it presented for this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). She said the SCC also faced a lot of challenges including accommodation, equipment for practical activities and feeding and appealed to government to increase the feeding grants of inmates which currently stood at 60 Ghana pesewas per inmate per day.

She commended the Angel-Zoe Foundation for its advocacy works which were attracting public attraction and relief items to the inmates. Mrs. Antwi told the inmates that 'life is a matter of step by step' adding that they not should rush and do things that would land them in jail. She told the inmates that "prison is not your last stop in life", adding: "you have the potential to become great persons in life". She said Angel-Zoe foundation was committed to reaching out to prison inmates to help rehabilitate and properly re-integrate them into society after serving their time.

She said the foundation instituted several programmes including; Inmates' Training and Placement Project and Inmates' Emergency Relief Project, which helped to provide pre-discharge orientation for soon-to-be ex-offenders to prepare them for the job market.

She named other projects such as the Shelter Support, Inmates' Correspondence and the Christian Outreach as some of the initiatives of the Foundation to bring relief not only to inmates but also staff of the Ghana Prison Service.

As part of the celebration, the inmates also enacted the festival of nine lessons and carols.

The SCC, formerly Borstal Institute, was established in the colonial days to rehabilitate child offenders. It currently has 115 inmates who are between the ages of 13 and 21.