The Deputy Minister for the Interior, Hon. Henry Quartey has appealed to stakeholders and philanthropist to assist the Ghana Prsions Service and for that matter inmates in meeting some of their needs.

The Minister made the appeal at the opening ceremony for the Binenial Retreat of the Prisons Ministry of Ghana at the Presbyterian Women’s Centre, Abokobi, Accra under the theme “Strengthening Ye The Weak Hands and Confirm The Feeble Knees”

The Prisons Ministry of Ghana was established in 1993 by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana with the aim of ministering to prison inmates throughout the country amongst others.

The ministry which became ecumenical three years after its establishment, thus allowing for other christian denominations to join also focus’ on; preaching and teaching of the gospel; providing to meet some welfare needs of inmates as well as providing medical care to inmates.

the ministry also assist the prisons to establish employable skills acquisition projects for inmates and provision of reading materials for the education of inmates.

Addressing the gathering which included The Chief Director for the Ministry of the Interior, the Acting Director- General of the Ghana Prisons Service,  Executives of the Prison’s Ministry, prison officers as well as other stakeholders , Mr. Quartey, indicated that, a number of projects have been rolled out all aimed at reducing the congestion within our prisons. he cited ‘The justice for all programme’ the renovation and refurbishment of some prisons facilities as some of  the initiatives.

Mr. Quartey commended the British High Commission for funding the project and called on other Embassies/ High Commissions as well as stakeholders to support the Ministry of the Interior and for that matter the Prisons Service in this regard and other ways whilst Government pursue the completion of the new ultra-modern 800 capacity remand prison.

In conclusion, he thanked the Prisons Ministry of Ghana for the significant support and urged other development partners, local and international NGOs and others to assist.