Healthway Foundation, a humanitarian organization in the Upper West Region, has made a donation to the Wa Central Prisons, treating the inmates to a feast during the festive period.
The donation forms part of a number of similar donations the foundation has been making to the Prisons Service over the years.
Hajia Reyaanat Bin Salih, the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, addressing inmates at the Wa Central Prisons yard, said the donation was to celebrate with the inmates during the Christmas festivities to make them feel part of and loved by society.
“For most people, Christmas is a day spent unwrapping presents, visiting loved ones and attending parties, but what it is like spending the day behind bars, no presents, no friends, no families and no parties?
“It is on the backdrop of this that Heathway Foundation as usual has decided to step in to make this Christmas a memorable one for you, to eat drink and share love,” Hajia Reyaanat empathized.
She said it was also to make them feel at home and miss not have a reason to miss home while assuring them that the foundation would always look their way.
Lawyer Saeed Abdul Shakuur, the Principal State Attorney, Upper West Region, told the inmates that they could seek appeals for their cases and sentences that kept them in prisons.
He said they could leverage the Legal Aid Scheme to freely access solicitors to appeal their cases for possible revision of their sentences.
He added that they could also take advantage of the recently enacted Plea Bargaining Act, which is operated under the auspices of the Office of the Attorney General, to seek re-adjudication of their sentences.
He admonished the inmates to internalize the actions that got them imprisoned for their own reformation, so as to leave prisons as better and worthy members of society.
Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, advised the inmates to report early signs of ill health to authorities for immediate treatment to avoid an outbreak of contagious diseases in the cells.
He urged them to have faith in God and use their imprisonment to rethink their lives in order to become better persons after their terms of sentences.
The items including packs of food, soft drinks and water were received by the Commander of the Prisons Service, Assistant Director of Prisons Joseph Damolbil Miyella together with the Director of Prisons in charge of Human Resources, Mr Benedict Bob-Dery.
ADP Miyella expressed gratitude to the Healthway foundation for the noble gesture and the continuous support being offered to the prison service by the foundation.
He, however, appealed for support in the area of training tools for better rehabilitation of the inmates, including sewing machines for dressmaking, and tools in such fields as carpentry.
He said the Service has established a garden for the cultivation of vegetable crops to improve nutrition in the inmates’ diet, but he said they have been constrained by the lack of a water pumping machine and other garden tools.
He, therefore, called for the support of the government and other benevolent organizations to help them put the garden to shape.
Other dignitaries included Mr Abdul Rahaman Meigoro, the Political Aide to the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih; staff and volunteers of the foundation; officers of the prison services; among significant others.
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