The Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, has expressed concern over the proliferation of contrabands into prison facilities, attributing it to the absence of scanners.
According to Mr. Kwarteng, who doubles as the Ambassador Extraordinaire of Prisons, prison officers find it difficult to stop contraband from entering the prisons because of the conventional methods they still use to search for prohibited items.
This he said could mean that inmates could have access to these contrabands making their rehabilitation difficult.
“There is no single scanner in the prisons and prison officers have to resort to the manual method of using their hands to search for contraband.,” he voiced his displeasure.
Mr. Kwarteng further indicated that security could also be breached without scanners and made a passionate appeal to government to urgently help the Ghana Prisons Service to procure scanners for its holding facilities to tighten security.
Mr. Kwarteng who has been fighting for improved prison conditions has been leading the crusade for support for the Ghana Prisons Service securing funds to launch projects to improve the welfare of inmates and officers.
Latest of the projects is ‘Improving Access to Psycho-Social Support and Arts Therapy in Prisons in Ghana’, which is currently being rolled out.