The Public Relations Officer of the Sekondi Central Prison in the Western Region, DSP Nester Adjetey Cyriano, says the concerns of inmates about the limited quality and quantity of meals given to them are being forwarded to the government for the necessary action.
This comes after over 600 inmates at the facility refused to eat the meal served for breakfast in protest against the poor quality and quantity of food given to them for some months now.
Speaking to DSP Cyriano said the reason for the limited quantity of the food is because the feeding allowance provided for the inmates is not sufficient to provide three square meals daily.
He added that the concerns of the inmates have been referred to the appropriate authorities for further action.
“It was Sunday, in the morning between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 am, when we served them their meals, and they refused to take it. It was porridge. And then they got agitated and were saying that the food we have been serving them is not sufficient, and it’s not quality enough. The food has been one way for some time now; porridge in the morning, banku in the afternoon and in the evening; and it has been so for a while. They also complained about the quality of the food.”
“The main reason for this is that the feeding allowance given to each prisoner per day is GH 1.80p. This money as we speak goes to the contractor before it gets to us, the contractor will also make their profit out of this 1.80p so finally what gets to the inmate will probably be GH 1.50p 0r 1.60p and with this amount, there is no way we can serve them with adequate and nutritious meals.”
“Many of them did not know that they were being served on 1.80p pesewas, so we brought that to their attention, and we explained the matters further to them that we are still making a move to appeal to the government to consider reviewing the amount upwards,” he added.
DSP Cyriano however stated that calm has returned to the Sekondi Central Prisons after matters were explained to the inmates.
