At the passing out ceremony of 465 Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) recruits at the GPS Training School in Accra, the Chief Director of the Ministry of the Interior, Mrs. Adelaide Anno-Kumi, said Government will continue to support the Ghana Prisons Service to improve on their service.
She said the recruitment of 2000 new personnel into the Service to augment the existing staff strength and enhance its operational capacity attest to the Government’s continuous commitment to support GPS for better service delivery.
“The Ghana Prisons Service continues to discharge its mandate of ensuring the safe custody and welfare of prisoners and more importantly ensuring the prisoners leave the prisons facilities better than they came in”, she stated..
Mrs. Anno-Kumi commended Management and staff of GPS for ensuring safe custody and welfare of prisoners, their reformation and rehabilitation. She added that as a result of vigilance and dedication on the part of the officers, it is evident that the Prisons Service remains committed to carrying out its mandate.
The Chief Director urged the officers to continue to adhere strictly to the laid-down guidelines for the treatment of inmates and that they should bear in mind that imprisonment in itself is a punishment and so the officers should treat the inmate humanely.
She added that the officers should respect the human rights of prisoners and avoid acts that have the tendency to worsen the pain of the prisoners.
The recruits were taken through five months of rigorous training in classroom instructions in prison duties, penal law, reception duties, interpersonal skills, first aid and computation of prisoner sentences. The Chief Director therefore charged them to be disciplined and work hard and serve as good ambassadors of the GPS.