THE STUDENTS Representative Council (SRC) of Koforidua Nurses and Midwifery Training College has called for an end to stigmatization of ex-convicts and has urged the public to be catalyst to properly integrate released convicts back into society.
This was said by the outgoing SRC president, Stephen Yaw Offei when the student body donated items such as toiletries, second hand clothes, medicines among others worth GH� 800.00 to inmates of Koforidua Prison.
He said the hardest aspect of the prison system is the stigmatization that comes after release. He stressed that stigmatization against ex-convicts makes re-integration back into society very difficult, especially, in the labor market.
"Social stigma is one of the common problems which ex-convicts are facing today. This is one of the reasons why they cannot change themselves for the better because of the labels being imposed to them.
�Social stigma imposed on ex-convicts hinders their willingness to change for the better because of the bad impression about them.�
Frank Twumasi, the incoming SRC president also appealed to government to as a matter of urgency improve health conditions of prisons in Ghana to provide the needed healthcare for the inmates.
According to him, due to lack of good healthcare in the various prisons, many incarcerated are contracting diseases which are exacerbated by the overcrowded nature of the prisons.
He said infirmaries at the prisons must be medically equipped and filled with professional physicians and nurses to provide the needed healthcare to the inmates.
Receiving the items on behalf of the prisoners, ASP George Amegletor, third in command at the Koforidua prison commended the SRC for their kind gesture which according to him, will mitigate some of the numerous challenges facing the facility.
Mavis Ayebeah, the 2014 face of Koforidua Nurses/Midwifery Training College SRC said the donation forms part of the ongoing SRC week celebration which is in line with the Institution's 50th anniversary celebration which is under the theme: �50 Years of Academic Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Education, The Role of Student Nurses.�
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