Some of the inmates of the Kumasi Central Prison who are suspected to have led a mutiny have been transferred to other prisons across the country.
One inmate was shot dead when they clashed with the Police, in an evacuation exercise during a fire outbreak in the prison on Wednesday.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ehAKOWZ9w28UzLxyVor7pWFBPPbuFJjR”]The Public Relations Officer of the Prisons Service, Vitalis Aryeh, told Citi News that a total of 248 prisoners were transferred during the exercise.
Meanwhile, a special committee has been set up to investigate circumstances that led to the attempted jail break.
Chairman of the Prisons Council, Reverend Stephen Wengam told Citi News that the committee has up to three weeks to submit their report to the Council to enable them make recommendations to government.
Vitalis Aryeh said the prisoners were moved to other prisons based on the category or classification of the prisoner adding, “We have some going to Ankaful which is a maximum prison and some also to local prisons within the Ashanti Region including Manhyia and Amanfrom.”
He explained that moving inmates from one prison to the other is a process they undertake regularly.
“Prison movement or transfers is an ongoing exercise daily and weekly basis. As and when we have space we move prisoners, and as and when your sentence is done up to a certain level, you could be transferred to other prisons. So it’s always an ongoing exercise, it’s just the logistics that we lack sometimes to move them.”
When asked about the cause of the fire, ASP Aryeh said, “We are waiting from the report from the Ghana National Fire Service. Base on the report we get we will then know what caused the fire.”
Reverened Wengam visits Kumasi Central Prison
Speaking to Citi News after visiting the Kumasi Central prison, Chairman of the Prisons Council, Reverend Stephen Wengam said the Committee will also give opportunity to inmates to raise any concerns they have.
He said “I actually reprimanded them and told them that what they have done is criminal. I also told them that they could be arraign before court and charged, so they must cooperate with the fact finding committee so that we can get to know the culprits and the appropriate action taken against them.”
He added that, “some few issues came up which needed attention because we also need to pay attention to their concerns especially, find out some of the things that might have sparked up this whole thing.”
Reverend Wengam also appealed to corporate institutions to come to the aid of the Kumasi Central Prison following the massive destruction that took place last Wednesday.
He lamented that “we are back to negative zero; negative zero because the place was in deplorable state already and with the little that we had it has been destroyed during the revolt.”
“That is why we are appealing to corporate Ghana, NGOs religious bodies to come on board to partner with us to raise resources to expand the prison facilities over there and to make our prisoners leave a decent live, not all of them are criminals and even if they are we owe it to transform them so that when they come out they can become better citizens,” he added.
Don’t dismiss the prisoners – Emile Short
Meanwhile, a former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Justice Emile Short, is asking government to take particular interest in the grievances of the inmates at the Kumasi Central prisons, explaining it will ultimately forestall future occurrences.
“We have a problem with almost all the prisons. There are too many people in the prisons and sometimes you will have three or four or five times the number that the prison is suppose to contain. People who have been there have also spoken about the lack of proper nutrition, health facilities and so on, so there are a lot of other issues which are affecting prisons in the country.”
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana