Wa Prisons has no equipment to diagnose Ebola

The Wa Prisons has no equipment to diagnose Ebola and its personnel have not received any protective clothes to guard themselves in case of a possible infection of an inmate.

“We receive criminals of all types into our custody and we have contact with them but no protective clothes or gargets have been provided us”, Assistant Controller of Prisons (ACP) Victor Douchebe told visiting Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior at a meeting with security heads in Wa.

He expressed concern that the Wa Prisons, which was originally built to take in 19 prisoners about 94 years ago, is now home to about 206 inmates with 25 inmates sleeping in terms in a cell.

ACP Douchebe said the security wall of the prisons was weak and the service had only one operative weapon.

He told the 12-member committee that the prisons lacked basic drugs to cater for the inmates but said he was happy that all the inmates were registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The facility has only weaving and tailoring workshops, which he said was inadequate to help train the inmates, who would prefer other training professions to that of weaving and tailoring.

On feeding, he said the one cedis eighty pesewas that was allocated to an inmate as feeding grant was inadequate and suppliers were not prepared to provide food items to the prisons because of its indebtedness.

He said the Wa Prisons did not undertake its farming activities this year because no funds were released.

The 12-Member Committee was in the Upper West Region to have firsthand information about preparations and measures put in place to prevent Ebola outbreak, and also, infrastructure provided for patients in case there is an outbreak in the region.