Facilities at Nsawam Prisons’ female ward over-stretched(Regional News) February 26, 2009

Story: Michael Donkor, Nsawam
FACILITIES at the female ward of the Nsawam medium security prisons are overstretched, exposing the inmates to health hazards, an Assistant Director of Prisons in charge of the ward, Araba Magnusen, has disclosed.
She said for instance that there were not enough mattresses for the inmates.
She said as a result of this situation some of the inmates were being compelled to sleep on the floor.
Madam Magnusen disclosed this to the Daily Graphic during a presentation of 30 bags of rice by TV 3 to the Female Ward at Nsawam last Friday.
She has, therefore, appealed to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other philanthropists to go to their aid.
Madam Magnusen said currently there were 132 inmates made up of 96 convicts, 25 remand prisoners, six who were serving life sentence and two who were on trial, while three were condemned prisoners being kept at the ward for various offences.
She said the remand prisoners were made to sleep on the floor due to lack of mattresses.
Madam Magnusen said the President’s Special Initiative on Distance Learning at the ward had also suffered a setback, since there were only two computers for the inmates to use.
The country’s prisons authority, during the last quarter of 2008, called on the government to rehabilitate the prisons and equip them with facilities that would enable them to achieve their objective of rehabilitation and reformation of inmates.
Presenting the items, the Public Relations Manager of TV3, Madam Janet Carboo-Danquah, said the donation was in line with the company’s objective to support needy institutions like the prisons.
She gave the assurance that the company would continue to support them.
Madam Carboo-Danquah said TV3 had now been listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
She said by the end of this year, TV3’s transmission would cover the entire country.