President John Mahama has promised to expand the Nsawam prison to ease congestion and create enough space for inmates.<\/p>\n
The expansion works will be in the form of the construction of two new blocks.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Nsawam Prison houses over 3,000 inmates and this number is four times more than what the facility is supposed to take.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”67qQPn58rjNfviECDFUHMvHsQH0uWlMt”]The President indicated that funds will soon be allocated for the project to commence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be to increase the space for accommodation in this prison and so in that regard, we are going to allocate money to build two new blocks in Nsawam Prison so that we can move majority of the inmates to ease congestion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
President Mahama made this promise when he toured the facility on Friday to assess the existing conditions at the Prison.<\/p>\n
He paid the visit three days after the launch of \u2018Project Effiase\u2019, an initiative launched by the Prisons Council to raise funds to better the conditions in prisons across the country.<\/p>\n
In his address, President Mahama stated that \u201cas President and as the leader of government, I am saying that with what I\u2019ve seen, we have an absolute commitment towards \u2018Project Effiase\u2019 to improve the conditions of the inmates of our prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n
He promised to initiate processes to ensure that certain deserving prisoners get remission of sentences all in attempt to decongest the prisons.<\/p>\n
He also indicated that inmates who passed their senior high school examinations will be given the chance to continue their education through distance learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard of the very good work most of you have done in the BECE and the SSCE but you don\u2019t have any opportunity to continue and so we are going to get one of the tertiary institutions to start a distance learning programme in prison so that those who passed SSCE can continue and get a degree,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood who was also part of the delegation said a permanent court will soon be set up at the Nsawam Prison to solely handle appeal and remand cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shall be commissioning a permanent court in this facility to review the cases of remand prisoners,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She added that the permanent court will have a High Court Judge, a Circuit Court Judge and also, a District Court Magistrate \u201cso that depending on the nature of the case, they can make the necessary judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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