No prison escape in Northern Region this year
The Northern Regional Command of the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) did not record any prison escape in 2015.
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The Regional Commander of the GPS, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP), Mr Robert K. Awolugutu, who made this known, commended officers, men and women of the service in the region for exhibiting a high level of professionalism in their work.
He said it was the diligence of the officers that prevented escapes at the various prisons in the region for the year.
DDP Mr Awolugutu said this at the end-of-year get together of the service in the region popularly known as the West African Security Service Activity (WASSA) held in Tamale on the eve of the Christmas festivities.
The gathering was also to show appreciation to God and to enable staff to reflect on their past activities and map out strategies that would help them to execute the mission and vision of the service more effectively.
Successes
Mr Awolugutu said in spite of the numerous challenges with finances, logistics, inmates' health, erratic water supply, transportation, accommodation, shortage of staff among others, the service in the region was able to chalk up some successes in the performance of their duties.
"Through our resolute determination, more than half of the inmate population have been registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable them to have access to medical care", he said.
The Regional Commander commended the families of the servicemen for the vital roles they played in supporting their spouses to achieve the successes.
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Appreciation
Mr Awolugutu also expressed appreciation to the various departments and the other sister security services for their support that enabled the service to chalk up the successes.
“Our profound and special gratitude goes to the management of the Ghana Water Company for their quick response any time we called on them to assist us with water for inmates’ use, the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Central Hospital for the medical assistance we received from them even when medical bills were not paid. The Regional
Coordinating Council and the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly for their enormous support”.
Mr Awolugutu advised the servicemen to remain focused and not to be complacent in the discharge of their duties, and urged them to celebrate the festive season with their families in moderation.
He asked the officers and men to eschew negative habits such as alcoholism, laziness, lateness, absenteeism, back biting, anonymous letter writing among others, which did not augur well for the progress of the service.