Raise fence wall to beef up security, Junior Girls Correctional Centre appeals
The Manageress of the Junior Girls Correctional Centre in Accra, Mrs Gifty Tekpor, has made a passionate appeal to corporate organisations and individuals to come to the aid of the centre in raising a fence wall and constructing a security post in front of the centre to beef up security.
The present fence wall of the centre which is 5.1 feet tall according to her, was not only short but that, part of it had broken down making it easier for thieves to enter the compound and take the little donations they receive from well-meaning Ghanaians for the upkeep of the girls in their care.
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Part of the fence wall that has cracked
“These criminals easily jump the wall to take the little crops we have planted to feed the girls in our care.
There are instances that our girls have been attacked in the night and their training materials and phones taken away from them,” she added.
The Junior Girls Correctional Centre, which is under the Department of Social Welfare, is where females between the ages of 12 and 17 years old have committed crimes such as stealing, robbery, assault, drugs, abetment of crime and other forms of crime against the laws of the country are sent to by the courts to serve their terms of detention which normally range from six months to three years. It is the only centre of its kind for girls in the country.
Mrs Tekpor, who made the appeal in an interview with the Junior Graphic, said because there was no security post at the centre, people just walked through the compound to observe things and sometimes at midnight when they and the girls were in their rooms, they would see some of these criminals attempt to force open their doors.
Again, she added, some of the girls also try to abscond through the short and broken walls, especially those who have been committed to serve their terms there.
On what measures the centre has put in place to deal with the problem, Mrs Tekpor said the centre did not have money to go for the services of private security.
They have, therefore, liaised with the police patrol team to patrol their area during their night duties but she was quick to add that the patrol team only came once in a while.
She said the Department of Social Welfare had also hired two security officers to watch over the centre at night, but she said those men leave in the morning.
“The short fence wall and the absence of the security post pose a danger to the centre and we will be grateful if help would come to us immediately,” she appealed.