President Kufuor has tasked the Prisons Service Council to rectify the disgraceful conditions in the country’s prisons.

He said the society has the responsibility to ensure that those who go to prison enjoy the basic necessities of life which will make their stay there more humane.

He was inaugurating the council at the Prisons Headquarters in Accra yesterday.

Twelve out of the 13-member council took the official oath and the oath of secrecy after which they signed the official oath book.

The 13th member, Professor A. B. Akosah, who until his appointment as the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, was nominated by the Ghana Medical Association, was, however, not present for the swearing-in ceremony.

President Kufuor charged the prison administration to be more innovative and employ the resources at their disposal to improve the conditions while government seeks the necessary funds for the major works.

The President said “the fact that someone has broken the laws of society does not mean that he or she is not entitled to humane treatment and it certainly does not mean that a person's human rights should not be respected".

He said there is always the element of punishment in sending people to prison, but the way prisoners are treated is often a mark of how civilised the people are. "You are, therefore, given the task of upgrading our prisons and bringing the system abreast of trends in the 21 Century, is what you have been sworn-in to undertake", the President told the council members. He reminded them to raise the conditions to such levels that the prisons do not become breeding grounds for hardened criminals who lose their humanity because of the crude conditions they have had to survive in".

The President said it is now accepted that taking away of a person's liberty is enough punishment but "visiting extra degrading conditions on such a person, however, is not acceptable".

He declared: "The reform of prisons should be given a bigger profile and the prisons must be ran in a manner that will ensure that not only are the human rights respected but people are helped to mend their ways so that they will emerge from prison as better human beings".

He said currently, the nation's economic conditions mean that resources are stretched and, therefore, the prisons do not rank very high in the order of priorities, but "I believe it requires some imagination to use the same resources to improve the conditions in the prisons".

He noted that there has been no expansion in the physical structures in the prisons to keep pace with the dramatic rise in the nation's population adding that, "it is not surprising, therefore, that the prisions are so overcrowded".

He said "people should come out of prison and be useful to society. It must be possible for prisoners to either learn some skill or use whatever skill they had before entering for the betterment of society".

He said apart from being used to confine convicts, too many governments have tended to use the prisons as convenient dumping grounds for their political opponents and those who disagree with them. The President said this practice has tended to put pressure on the running of the prisons.

The prison officers, he pointed out, either feel they have to please the government of the day by being cruel to these "political prisoners" or else, they look the other way so that this category of prisoners break the rules.

"Whichever way, this is bad for the system and also goes to detract from the sense of revulsion that will otherwise come to be associated with going to prison. Indeed, it almost became a badge of honour to have gone to prison, albeit for political reasons", he said. The chairman of the council, Rev. Prof Aryeetey, thanked the President for giving members the opportunity to serve the country.

He assured the President that they will work with a human heart for the welfare of prisoners. "We have trust in God that we will work in partnership with other institutions towards the reform and modernisation of the prisons", he said.

He, however, expresed disappointment at the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu, who worked tirelessly towards the rapid transformation of the Prison Service, adding that "we shall always remember him for his hardwork". Other members of the council are the Minister responsible for the Interior, the Director-General of Prisons, Mr Richard Kuuire, Mr Peter Dei Kwarteng, representing the Ghana Bar Association, Mr Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecutions and Mrs Mary Emelda Amadu, Director of Social Welfare.

The rest are Mr Jonathan K. Ampratwum, Assistant Director of Prisons, Chief Officer Grace Armah, Nana Kwadwo Nyarko III, Pranghene, representing the National House of Chiefs, and the President's three nominees, Alhaji Bawa Wemah, Mr Dan Botwe and Mr K. A. A. Brempong.