Mr. Mark Woyongo, Minister of the
Interior has proposed the establishment of non custodian sentences, as part of
measures to help decongest the country’s prisons. The Minister, who is also the Member of
Parliament for Navrongo Central, made the proposal when he visited the Navrongo
Central Prison to familiarize with the situation at the prisons and see how it
could be improved. Most of the inmates, who were suspected criminals, said they
had been in prison for four to five years without trial. They complained that
they were not properly fed and had little or no soap to bath and wash their
clothes with. The Prison, which is dilapidated and unclean, has a capacity to
contain only 80 inmates but presently accommodating 217 inmates. Mr. Woyongo
said plans are underway to hold a stakeholders meeting to chart a way to see
how the laws could be reviewed to address the challenges confronting the
country’s prisons and expressed hope that most of the challenges could be
ironed out. The Interior Minister described the daily feeding grant of 0ne
Ghana cedis eighty persewas as woefully inadequate. He stated that his Ministry
will advocate for the increment of the grant to help feed the prisoners better.
Source: GNA
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