By Stephen K.Effah & Edith Laari
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
A grand plot to break jail by 13 inmates in custody at the James Fort Prison in Accra last week, was uncovered by the prison’s intelligence network.
The names of the 13 were not disclosed but according to the prison authorities, they are made up of three narcotic drug dealers and10 suspected armed robbers.
They allegedly conspired to raise money to hire thugs in town to attack the prison’s main gate to create confusion and avenue for escape.
They have since been transferred to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons.
This came to light when the Minister of the Interior, Albert Kan-Dapaah and the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I.C Quaye, toured the prison yesterday following the abortive plot.
Deputy Director of Prisons in charge of James Fort prison, Alhassan Kariba Legibo, said preliminary investigation revealed that the inmates had planned that the thugs would attack the prison guards at the main gate to the prison yard while they (the inmates) also attack the officers in the yard to escape.
He told the ministers that the action of the 13 inmates was reported to the Prison Headquarters which immediately ordered their transfer to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons.
Mr. Legibo said about 100 out of the over 900 inmates in custody at the prison are there as a result of narcotic offences, and they constitute a threat to the prison’s security because the fort built in 1640, is "collapsing" with all the facilities broken down.
He also expressed concern about the lifestyle of the inmates, saying, "they don’t work, they just eat and sleep for the long period that some of them spend here".
This situation, coupled with the lack of a system for training and reformation hardens them especially because the inmates mingle together and they learn from each other.
Mr Legibo called for the speedy disposal of cases by the courts to ease the pressure on the prisons, citing the James Fort Prison which was designed to take 450 inmates but now has 966.
He appealed to the ministry to assist the prisons with the requisite tools for training of the inmates to equip them with vocational skills to enable them to lead responsible lives after their discharge.
Sheikh Quaye cautioned the inmates against any plan to escape from custody, saying they should shun all intentions of escaping from custody that would land them into another problem.
He said the authorities are making every effort to ensure that those who have their cases, hanging are heard speedily.
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