Dubbed “The Efiase Project,” the 10-year initiative of the Prisons Service Council is expected to create awareness about prison conditions and raise funds from corporate institutions and benevolent organisations to improve conditions of prisons and reformation centres.

Social responsibility

The presentation was part of the CDH Financial Holding’s Prison Empowerment Programme (PEP), a social investment towards assisting to transform the Ghana Prisons Service.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Reverend Dr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, presented the cheque to the Chairman of the Prisons Service Council, Rev. Dr Stephen Yenusom Wengam.

He said the company was happy to contribute to the project and pleaded that the funds be used for its purpose.

He said it was necessary to ensure that the prisoners were treated well to ensure that ex-convicts turned out to be responsible.

“We all must realise that the health of a nation is defined by how well or bad it treats its people, including prison inmates,’’ he said, adding that the company could invest more knowing that the investment would be used judiciously to the benefit of the project.

He, therefore, urged the Prisons Service to be transparent and accountable to the nation, with respect to the funds it would receive for the project.

For his part, Rev. Dr Wengam said the council was grateful for the kind gesture of the company and promised the funds would be used for its purpose.

Challenges

Rev. Dr Wengam lamented that the Prisons Service was faced with the challenges such as inadequate logistics and skills development, a hospital of its own, resources for industrial activities, vehicles, and low feeding rations for inmates.