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20th December, 2011
Give Us Cooked Food - Incalcerated Juveniles
Juveniles in correctional institutions have appealed to donors of food meant for their upkeep to provide it cooked instead of the raw form.
This is because raw food items often end up in the homes of officials of the institutions and with government providing 60 pesewas a day per inmate, for feeding, they end up with meager rations.
According to findings by Child Research Centre (CRECENT), many of the juveniles were thus denied sufficient amount of the nutrition needed for their physical, mental and emotional development.
The findings were based on a research on: ‘Juvenile Justice’ presented by the Executive Director of RECENT, Mrs. Susan Sabaa at its launch in Accra yesterday.
The research is part of a project on: “Preventing and combating all forms of violence against children and youth in justice institutions or in conflict with the law” funded by the European Union (EU) in collaboration with Plan Ghana.
Mrs. Sabaa identified the numerous institutional weaknesses in the correctional facilities as a major factor which undermined the rights of juveniles and indicated that the inhumane manner in which juveniles were treated created negative effects on their psychological health and rarely aided their personal growth.
“There was one particular correctional centre where all the inmates smelled very badly. After much probing it was discovered that a leakage in the water closet toilet leaked onto the floor of their dormitory and had been left unattended to for years,” she added.
She said many of the inmates often felt intimidated by the officers’ disciplinary methods, adding that approximately 85 per cent of juveniles in correctional facilities carried a fear of being beaten.
Mrs Sabaa mentioned dysfunctional homes as one of the critical factors giving rise to the juvenile crimes in the country, adding that often children, over 80 per cent of whom do not live with their parents, are left unsupported and end up engaging in all sorts of illegal acts.
Mrs. Sabaa therefore made a passionate appeal to parents and guardians to strive to make their children’s welfare and safety a top priority.
When the Times contacted the Senior Correctional Centre, formerly Borstal institute, the Deputy Director of Prisons, Stephen Cofie Esq, denied the allegation by the inmates that raw food items meant for inmates were sent home by officials.
He said their facility had strict rules regarding such issues and any time organisations brought raw food items, they were well documented and kept at the store for use by the kitchen staff.
“The feeding fee for these children is inadequate and we depend more on such donations to run the place so why would we turn round to steal them?’’, he asked.
He however hinted that government would from next January provide GH¢1,800 per inmate as feeding fee.
When asked what his views were on donors bringing cooked food, he said it was not anything new since some organisations sometimes brought cooked food for the inmates.
Mr. Cofie mentioned the lack of professional trained officers to handle the juveniles and the unavailability of a monitoring system to check the progress of juveniles after they have served their term as some of the challenges facing them.
The Deputy Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Joanna Mensah, who spoke to the Times on the issue also said it was very difficult to run correctional facilities because of the lack of funds and thus donations from organisations, whether raw food items or cooked ones were much welcomed.
She expressed concern that Ghana had only one institutional reformation centre that takes care of delinquent children after they are released from prison.
“For the whole country, we have only one shelter for juveniles and this is quite worrying,” she said, and suggested that two more shelters, one in the Western region and the other in the Northern region, be built to ease the pressure on the existing centre.
She mentioned inadequate staff, insufficient transportation and the miserable state of remand homes as the major challenges facing the department.
The country director of Plan Ghana, Mr Prem Shukla, said the overall objective of the project is to contribute to the effective running and implementation of mechanisms, systems and laws in the area of protection of children and youth in justice institutions who are in conflict with the law.
He said for a successful implementation of the project, the media should play an imperative role in creating public awareness about the situation Ghana’s juvenile justice institutions.
This is because raw food items often end up in the homes of officials of the institutions and with government providing 60 pesewas a day per inmate, for feeding, they end up with meager rations.
According to findings by Child Research Centre (CRECENT), many of the juveniles were thus denied sufficient amount of the nutrition needed for their physical, mental and emotional development.
The findings were based on a research on: ‘Juvenile Justice’ presented by the Executive Director of RECENT, Mrs. Susan Sabaa at its launch in Accra yesterday.
The research is part of a project on: “Preventing and combating all forms of violence against children and youth in justice institutions or in conflict with the law” funded by the European Union (EU) in collaboration with Plan Ghana.
Mrs. Sabaa identified the numerous institutional weaknesses in the correctional facilities as a major factor which undermined the rights of juveniles and indicated that the inhumane manner in which juveniles were treated created negative effects on their psychological health and rarely aided their personal growth.
“There was one particular correctional centre where all the inmates smelled very badly. After much probing it was discovered that a leakage in the water closet toilet leaked onto the floor of their dormitory and had been left unattended to for years,” she added.
She said many of the inmates often felt intimidated by the officers’ disciplinary methods, adding that approximately 85 per cent of juveniles in correctional facilities carried a fear of being beaten.
Mrs Sabaa mentioned dysfunctional homes as one of the critical factors giving rise to the juvenile crimes in the country, adding that often children, over 80 per cent of whom do not live with their parents, are left unsupported and end up engaging in all sorts of illegal acts.
Mrs. Sabaa therefore made a passionate appeal to parents and guardians to strive to make their children’s welfare and safety a top priority.
When the Times contacted the Senior Correctional Centre, formerly Borstal institute, the Deputy Director of Prisons, Stephen Cofie Esq, denied the allegation by the inmates that raw food items meant for inmates were sent home by officials.
He said their facility had strict rules regarding such issues and any time organisations brought raw food items, they were well documented and kept at the store for use by the kitchen staff.
“The feeding fee for these children is inadequate and we depend more on such donations to run the place so why would we turn round to steal them?’’, he asked.
He however hinted that government would from next January provide GH¢1,800 per inmate as feeding fee.
When asked what his views were on donors bringing cooked food, he said it was not anything new since some organisations sometimes brought cooked food for the inmates.
Mr. Cofie mentioned the lack of professional trained officers to handle the juveniles and the unavailability of a monitoring system to check the progress of juveniles after they have served their term as some of the challenges facing them.
The Deputy Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Joanna Mensah, who spoke to the Times on the issue also said it was very difficult to run correctional facilities because of the lack of funds and thus donations from organisations, whether raw food items or cooked ones were much welcomed.
She expressed concern that Ghana had only one institutional reformation centre that takes care of delinquent children after they are released from prison.
“For the whole country, we have only one shelter for juveniles and this is quite worrying,” she said, and suggested that two more shelters, one in the Western region and the other in the Northern region, be built to ease the pressure on the existing centre.
She mentioned inadequate staff, insufficient transportation and the miserable state of remand homes as the major challenges facing the department.
The country director of Plan Ghana, Mr Prem Shukla, said the overall objective of the project is to contribute to the effective running and implementation of mechanisms, systems and laws in the area of protection of children and youth in justice institutions who are in conflict with the law.
He said for a successful implementation of the project, the media should play an imperative role in creating public awareness about the situation Ghana’s juvenile justice institutions.
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