Sekondi Prison: Inmates refuse to eat in protest of GHc1.80p feeding allowance
Some inmates of the Sekondi Central Prison rejected the breakfast served them in protest of the poor quality and quantity of the food.
About 600 of the inmates at the facility maintain that their meals haven’t been the best for some months now.
This was disclosed by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the prison, DSP Nester Adjetey Cyriano.File Photo
“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,” he said, as quoted by Citinewsroom.
“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.”
Currently, each inmate at the prison is entitled to GHc1.80 as feeding allowance per day, for which they are served breakfast, lunch and supper.
DSP Cyriano noted that they are in talks with the government to increase the feeding allowance of the inmates.
“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.
Source: Pulse News