{"id":54590,"date":"2014-10-09T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T06:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=54590"},"modified":"2014-10-09T06:37:20","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T06:37:20","slug":"govt-receives-500000-to-decongest-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/10\/govt-receives-500000-to-decongest-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t receives \u00a3500,000 to decongest prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Interior Minister, Mark Wayongo has disclosed that government has received a \u00a3500, 000 loan to decongest prisons across the country.<\/p>\n

Ghana has 43 prison facilities and according to reports, 28 are said to be overcrowded by as much as 358%.<\/p>\n

The situation, according to prison officials makes it difficult for them to effectively manage the institutions.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”qdodugo6CdZPUyufz0vHRfox0TYdlmJ8″]However, in May this year, the Ghana Prisons Service began a nationwide decongestion<\/strong><\/span><\/a> exercise at the various prisons beginning from the Central region.<\/p>\n

In August, the Interior Minister proposed the establishment of non-custodian sentences<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, as part of measures to help decongest the country\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n

The sector Minister on Wednesday paid a working visit to the Ankaful Prisons in the Central Region and according to Citi News\u2019<\/strong> Kwamena Bamfo Adjei, it was revealed that majority of the inmates have been on remand for over five years leading to the congestion of the facility.<\/p>\n

Woyongo promised the inmates that the 500,000 pound loan will be put to good use to facilitate the decongestion exercise.<\/p>\n

Part of the money will also be used to construct new facilities for remand prisoners.<\/p>\n

This will prevent remand prisoners from being kept in the same facilities as convicted prisoners.<\/p>\n

The remand prisoners appealed to the Minister to speed up processes for their cases to be heard.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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