According to her, impregnating a female prison is an act considered obnoxious, abominable, immoral, unethical and illegal.
?Am in charge of female prisoners. They have their separate ward far from their male counterparts; no male officer goes closer to the females. Besides, how can a female prisoner sneak to a male boyfriend or husband to sleep with her, which officer will allow that? As part of their punishment, they are denied sexual satisfaction like their male colleagues, ?she explicated.
?Sometimes, some female inmates come to prison with undisclosed pregnancies that show up after some time, so the public wrongly perceives that as in-house pregnancy. But that is not the case at all?, she added.
She recalled a case in which she took a female prisoner, who unknowingly was carrying a five-month pregnancy, to work outside. Along the line the inmate collapsed and was rushed to the hospital but had a miscarriage.
She vouched that no officer would dare venture to do that no matter what. Thus, the view held by the public on the matter is misplaced and has no evidential basis, she added.
She was, however, of the view that lactating mothers must be given some reprieve, at least for three months, for the sake of the innocent baby.
A male Chief Superintendent Officer lamented the paltry sum of money for feeding inmates daily. ?How can an inmate be fed on a paltry GH?1.80 for a day? Who would give his/her child GH?1.80 for a day?? he asked.
He refuted the allegation that prisons officers were wicked and callous. ?Look, sometimes we use our own money to feed and buy medicines for the poor, helpless inmates. Don’t forget that they are our brothers, sisters, uncles, fathers and mothers. We can also fall victim so we do our best under very difficult conditions,? he expressed.
The officer vehemently denied the claim that prison some officers have been siphoning home some of the items presented to inmates. ?Look no officer can or will dare take away items presented to inmates by organizations or individuals because offenders face outright dismissal and prosecution.?
He appealed to the government to improve conditions at the prisons since they could also be victims one day. Additionally, he appealed the working conditions of prison officers should be improved to motivate them. He stated that the Single Spine Salary Structure did not favor them.
He revealed that a lot of transformation was going on at the various prisons to offer vocational training for inmates to come out with skills after their term to enable them to re-integrate easily to avoid idleness, joblessness and poverty.
He disclosed that some inmates have been writing the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) and West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations to acquire some qualification while others undertake ICT training programmes.
Source : Public Agenda
