Members of the International Prison Chaplains Association (IPCA), Ghana, joined their counterparts from across the world for the eighth worldwide conference of the association in Bangkok, Thailand.
The conference, held on the theme: “A Living Hope”, comes off every five years except in 2020 during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s event was attended by 123 chaplains from over 33 countries and coincided with IPCA’s 40th anniversary.
Participants
Twenty-five chaplains from IPCA Ghana, led by its National Chairman, Rev. Steve Mensah, were in Bangkok, Thailand, to participate in the conference.
IPCA, which is a global network of ordained ministers, deacons, elders and other Church leaders who reach out to prisoners and their families, has a consultative status at the UN.
Opening the conference, the outgoing International President, David Buick, said prisoners needed to have hope for the future and that Chaplains had a responsibility to instil that hope in them through the Gospel.
The conference, which also served as a Platform for networking among IPCA members, was also used to restrategise and evaluate IPCA's impact on prisoners and its consultative status at the United Nations.
Others
Other leading IPCA Ghana members who attended the conference included Dr Mrs Angela Mensah, Dr Evans Ekanem, Apostle James Tetteh, Rev. Philip Ahodokpo, Chaplain Gifty Mussey, Pastor Adjei Sowah, Bishop Asiedu-Peprah and CSP Moses Animah.
A declaration made at the end of the conference urged governments to apply all aspects of the 'Nelson Mandela Rules' and also the Bangkok Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial measures for Women Offenders.
The declaration emphasised that those rules provided a creative space in which to implement prison systems.
The declaration also urged churches to embrace the mindset of restorative justice, accepting the need for victims, offenders and communities to be restored to each other.
It further urged churches to facilitate the ministry of prison chaplains, welcoming former inmates and providing care and support for inmates.
Marie-Louise of Sweden, the new International President, urged the Chaplains to be even more committed in their support and advocacy for the better care of Prisoners across the world.
