The President of Ghana, upon the recommendation of the Prisons Service Council, has appointed Ms Matilda Baffuor-Awuah, Deputy Director General of Prisons, as acting Director General.

A statement issued to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday indicated that her appointment followed the retirement of Michael Kofi Bansah, the Director-General of Prisons, on March 8, 2013.

It said Ms Baffour Awuah, until her appointment as the acting Director -General of Prisons, was in charge of Finance and Administration of the Service.

The statement said the acting Director-General was a product of Aburi Girls Secondary School, and had a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration from the School of Administration, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Public Relations from the School of Communication Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Modern History, all at the University of Ghana, Legon.

It said: “At the professional level, Ms. Baffour-Awuah has also undertaken several training and leadership programmes in Correctional Administration, and has been trained at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin, USA in Criminal Justice and Corrections Administration, under the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Award, at the International Management Training Centre, Worthing, UK as well as the Galilee Management Institute, Israel in Advanced Prisons Management, and has also participated in several Correctional Management Conferences at the international level”.

According to the statement, since her enlistment into the Ghana Prisons Service in June 1981, Ms. Baffour-Awuah had held several key positions notably, Director of Prisons in charge of Finance and Administration, Director of Prisons in charge of Welfare.

Other positions she held were Commanding Officer, Prisons Headquarters, Chief Welfare Officer, Officer-in-charge, Nsawam Female Prison, Officer-in-charge, James Fort Female Prison, and Head of Public Relations, Prisons Headquarters.

Ms. Baffour-Awuah had served with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a Corrections Advisor to the National Prisons Service of South Sudan.