The inmates at the Kumasi Central Prison who attempted to break jail on Wednesday night will be transferred to other facilities, the Ghana Prisons Service has revealed.
[contextly_sidebar id=”9vx7mJVV6kyVcoYLu1QG3US91dMsYLOZ”]“We are going to look for those who started the whole thing and have them transferred to ensure that they don’t influence people further,” the Public Relations Officer of the Service , Vitalis Aryeh told Citi Breakfast Show host, Bernard Avle.
One of the inmates was shot dead as they clashed with the Police, in an evacuation exercise during the fire outbreak in the prison.
“We will take them to a larger or bigger prison where they will not have the influence they have been having all this while,” Aryeh added.
Some inmates at the prisons reportedly tried to take advantage of the fire incident to break jail but they failed.
They hurled bricks and other dangerous objects at the security operatives, injuring some of the officers.
Mr. Aryeh revealed that the riot started about 8 pm[on Wednesday evening], adding that calm was restored at around 3am this[Thursday] dawn.
Narrating the incident on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr Aryeh remarked that “all the inmates, about, 2,000, 3,000 plus, poured into the yard and…were vandalizing and throwing objects, throwing things even outside so officers were forced to evacuate to push back to inner parameter”
He said the Police were compelled to use “tear gas” to “control the situation.”
Meanwhile, the Ghana National Fire Service has launched investigations into last Wednesday’s fire incident.
Mr. Aryeh stated that the Prisons Service will be unable to identify the cause of the fire outbreak until the Fire Service has finalized its investigations.
Prisons Reforms
He said the Kumasi Central Prisons has in recent times introduced a number of vocational skills for inmates as part of measures to institute prison reforms.
“Ghana prisons service in conjunction with Gifex has set up some training centres and ICT centres in almost all the prisons.Those who dropped out from school at the JHS, there is a system for them, those who were artisans and want to continue with their programmes, we have vocational skills for them and on record we have them passing their exams 100 percent since 2007 till now”
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah