President John Dramani Mahama has announced new measures aimed at improving agricultural productivity within Ghana’s prisons as part of a broader effort to enhance rehabilitation and self-sufficiency across correctional facilities.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Damongo Camp Prison in the Savannah Region, President Mahama revealed that government will provide significant logistical support to the Prisons Service to expand and modernise its farming operations.
He said the support would include the provision of fertilisers, mechanised equipment, tractors, and other farming implements to enable inmates to engage in productive and sustainable agricultural ventures.
According to him, boosting prison agriculture will not only improve food security within the facilities but also contribute to the rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates by equipping them with valuable skills for life after prison.
“In agriculture, the prison service is being supported to engage in large-scale farming, including poultry and vegetable production. The government is providing fertiliser and mechanised equipment to improve productivity over the next three years.” He assured, adding that the prison service is going to receive “agricultural tractors and implements so that they can activate their prison camps.”
The president also highlighted the increased daily feeding rate for inmates from GHc 1.80 to GHc 5.00., emphasizing that “this will provide better nutrition for those incarcerated in prison. This is not charity, it is justice. It reflects our belief that dignity should never be dependent on one’s circumstances.”
He added that the initiative forms part of his broader vision to transform the country’s correctional system into one that promotes reform, productivity, and human dignity.
READ: “No Ghanaian should be stripped of their humanity even in prison” – Mahama
The Damongo Camp Prison constructed and donated by the Church of Pentecost is a three hundred (300) all male prison that serves as a transformative and skill acquisition facility. It is equipped with standard football pitch, workshops for carpentry, tailoring and metal fabrication works, chapel, dinning, baptistery amongst others.
According to the Ghana Prisons Service, Inmates at the Damongo Camp Prison are expected to used largely for agricultural works in the Damongo enclave.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
