President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday hinted that he had accepted the invitation to visit all the prison service facilities in the country to have first hand information of the situation on the ground.
He said although the Council of State and collaboration with the Ministry of Interior are working around the clock to carry out a number of reforms at the country's prison facilities, there is the need to also acquaint himself with the situation.
President Mahama announced this when members of the Prisons Council called on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.
The members led by Reverend Stephen Wengham, Chairman of the Council were at the Presidency to inform him about the inauguration of the body and to invite him to visit some of their facilities.
President Mahama said his administration sees investment in the prisons facilities as a priority, considering the fact there had been a clarion cry for the expansion and reforms at the facilities.
He called for collaboration among government, Ghana Prisons Service, and Ghana Police Service to determine areas of critical concern that need immediate reforms for the betterment of prisoners.
"Prisoners are our brothers and sisters ... And therefore have the rights to better treatments like us to live well," the President added.
President Mahama called for sentences that would march the magnitude of the crime with the punishment meted out to convicted persons, adding that in some cases the sentences are too excessive.
He said the expansion works would have to separate the convicted prisoners from those on remand so that the convicted ones do not corrupt the minds of those on remand in future.
"The saddest aspect of prisons is those who find themselves in remand houses for so many years without any judgement on their cases."
Rev Wengham said the Ankaful Prisons facilities are a model in Africa which needs to be replicated to ameliorate the plight of prisoners in the country.
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