Most ex-convicts after serving time in the Akuse prisons do not return home, says Superintendent Winfred Nyarko, Commander of the Akuse district police headquarters.

“Instead, they integrate into the local Akuse community, use their experience in the act to locate and join local gangs and ghettos and perpetrate crime, including rape and defilement of women and children, in their new environment.”

His observation was on the back of an interview on the escalating levels of drug use among young people within his jurisdiction, an act most young people in Akuse are jailed for. The alarming rate of drug and substance abuse continues to breed crime and criminals of armed robberies, theft and other violent crimes, a situation the Police Commander and his boys have to contend with.

He said most of the ex-convicts do not return home after serving their sentences for drug addiction but stay on in the host community and perpetrate more crimes.

The Police Superintendent made the disclosure in an interview with this journalist.

“Akuse is home to the Akuse prisons where the youth particularly convicted of drug abuse after serving time in the prison are expected to go home,” said the Police Chief. “Most of them however refuse to return home but rather join the local drug addicts in Akuse and engage in various criminal activities including rape and defilement.”

The Ghana Prisons Service has disclosed that most ex-convicts are unable to leave the prison camps to their various homes due to rejection by family members, a development which has served as a huge setback for the Service.

With rape and defilement one of the leading acts of crime in the district including Akuse, Superintendent Nyarko blamed the incident on parents refusing to report the crime but even more so on ex-convicts from the Akuse Prisons and other drug addicts.

“Rape and defilement remains a major criminal act here but which parents out of apparent embarrassment refuse to report,” the Police Superintendent averred. “Most culprits of the few reported cases however turn out to be ex-convicts of the Akuse Prisons and drug addicts from this ghettos.”

Rape and defilement remains one of the criminal acts widely unreported in several parts of the country, a phenomenon which largely undermines the fight against the canker.

Superintendent Nyarko while urging parents to monitor their wards against falling victims to rape and defilement urged them to report such cases to the Police to help the service in its fight against the crime.

He also cautioned parents who engaged in acts of drug abuse to refrain from the act so as not to serve as bad examples to their young ones.

Surge in drug abuse

With drug abuse on the increase in the jurisdiction, Superintendent Winfred Nyarko took the opportunity to caution the youth against the act as its abuse would not guarantee them a fulfilled life.

The police as part of efforts to rid the area of drug addicts have raided several ghettos in regular swoops in areas such as Kpong, Nuaso, Asutuare, Akuse and other areas in the jurisdiction.