The Ho Central Prison has revived its greenhouse farming after 18 months of inactivity.
The farm yields will feed the inmates while some will be sold to generate revenue for the prison’s administration.
As of [September 6, 2022], there were 435 inmates at the Ho Central Prison and the authorities at the correctional facility lamented that the cost of feeding the inmates had become burdensome.
The Deputy Director of Prisons in charge of the Volta Region, Martin Darku, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that GH¢120,000 was injected into the project to equip some of the inmates with greenhouse farming skills to facilitate their reintegration into society when they left the correctional facility.
He said about 40 inmates would be trained in greenhouse farming on the 3,000-square feet field before the end of the year.
Mr Darku said the prison authorities were working in collaboration with agriculturists to address the problem of crop infestations on the farm.
He said the preparations for the project began more than a year ago but it took some months to fix the necessary equipment for the farm to take off.
Employable skills
Shedding light on efforts to equip the inmates with employable skills, Mr Darku said four convicts were currently undergoing apprenticeship in carpentry, while eight were training to become tailors at the prison.
He said 10 inmates were studying at the junior high school (JHS) of the correctional centre while 15 had enrolled for non-formal education.
Meanwhile, he said, 15 inmates were training at the facility’s Bible school.
Mr Darku said the Ho Central Prison had acquired a site for a vehicle workshop in the town with plans to build a shed for the project to help train the prisoners in that area of skilled vocation as well.
He entreated members of the public to accept and love ex-convicts to help to reintegrate them into society.
Mr Darku appealed to corporate bodies, public-spirited individuals and religious bodies to support the prison in various ways to enable them to feed the inmates.
Source: Graphic Online
