GHS 1.80 prisoner feeding allowance woefully inadequate - Prisons Service
The Prison Service says an increment has become very necessary, in view of the fact that the Prisoners' feeding allowance was last adjusted 10 years ago.
Jonas Danquah 
The Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) has called on the government to increase the allowance for prison inmates to reflect current living conditions in the country.
According to the Bono Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GPS, Deputy Superintendent of Prisons (DSP) Johann Nii Narh Nartey, the current GH¢1.80 daily feeding fee for an inmate was woefully inadequate to meet three meals for each inmate.
He noted that an upward adjustment in the feeding allowance for prison inmates had become very necessary, as it has been 10 years since it was last adjusted.
He made this remark in an interview the Daily Graphic.
He explained that prison inmates needed to be fed well to boost their immune system, so they would be able to withstand diseases most common in prisons in the country.
"We need to improve the quality of meals for our prisoners," he said, and encouraged relatives of inmates of prisons to take along with them raw foodstuffs for cooking during visitations.
DSP Nartey also bemoaned the overcrowding situation in the country's prisons.
He said Sunyani Central Prison which was built to contain a maximum of 450 inmates, now has a population of 846.
DSP Nartey said the overcrowded situation at the prison had resulted in the inmates developing all kinds of skin diseases.
"The number of inmates sometimes go beyond 900, and in such situations, we have to decongest by sending some of the inmates to prison camps at Yeji in the Bono East Region and Kenyase and Duayaw-Nkwanta, both in the Ahafo Region," he said.
