A former Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service and the Chief Executive Officer of the Charity Is Love Foundation, Matilda Baffour-Awuah has urged the general public to contribute to support the well-being of prison inmates especially, female inmates because of their role in society.
She said the support of the public would help in the successful reformation and rehabilitation of the inmates.
Madam Baffour Awuah said this during a visit her Foundation in collaboration with Crime Check Foundation (CCF) paid to the Nsawam Female Prison to donate food items to the inmates to wine and dine during the yuletide.
The former prison chief indicated that the imprisonment of women has a huge effect on families and societies at large due to the role they play. This she said calls for support for their well-being.
“Some of the inmates are innocent and some are also in prison by mistake so it does not imply that anybody who is in prison is a criminal. Most of these inmates become hardened and are unable to reform because of the conditions in prison. That is why some of us have taken it upon ourselves to consistently visit the prisons to offer the necessary support. So I want to encourage the general public to at least once in a while contribute to support these inmates,” she said.
“Another issue we are keen about is the well-being of female inmates due to the role they play in tending for families and societies at large. They, therefore, need love and support in their difficult times so that when they come out of prison they become better wives and mothers,” she added.
For his part, the Executive Director of CCF, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng said without the support of the general public, the reformation and rehabilitation of prison inmates will not be achievable. He seized the opportunity to praise Madam Awuah for her role in allowing cameras into prison to bring forth the challenges facing inmates.
“It was during the reign of Madam Awuah that I was given the opportunity as a journalist to go to prisons to make their challenges known to the world. This has accorded CCF the opportunity to support the rehabilitation and reformation agenda of the prisons service. However, without the support of the general public, the agenda will be difficult to achieve. We will also plead with government to increase the feeding fee of inmates so that their reformation and rehabilitation shall be realized,” he appealed.
The items donated included carbonated drinks, bags of rice, tomato paste, and bottles of cooking oil.
By Rudolph Nandi
Email: rudnankp4@gmail.com
