Water shortage has hit the Koforidua Prison at Effiduase in the Eastern Region, leaving the inmates unable to bath and wash their clothes regularly.
The situation has led to skin irritation and infections among the 800 inmates.
The prison was originally built to accommodate 400 inmates.
Due to the heat and the overcrowded nature of the cells, the prisoners, who are ideally supposed to bath three times daily, have had no choice but to stay days without a bath.
This came to light when journalists from some selected media houses visited the prison to assess inmates’ accessibility to safe water as part of activities to mark this year’s World Water Day, which was commemorated on March 22, 2019.
This year’s celebration was on the theme: “Leaving no one behind”.
The Officer in charge of the Koforidua Prison, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP) Mr Benedict Bob Dery, conceded that chronic water shortage had been a major challenge at the prison and Effiduase before he was posted to the facility four years ago.
He did not mince words in highlighting the effects of the lack of safe water on the lives of the inmates and the entire prison environment.
“You cannot imagine the discomfort that the inmates go through. The daily lives of the prisoners are affected by the water crisis. We are compelled to depend on the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to supply us with a tanker of water in a day, but that is not enough and sometimes they are unable to meet our request,” he said.
To respond to the situation, Mr Dery said, some contingency plans had been put in place to deal with the water shortage and conserve water.
The measures included restricting inmates’ showers, flushing of cell toilets and the washing of clothes, he said.
He said the Koforidua Prison was not initially built as a prison but was a colonial structure for weaponry which was later converted to a prison to cater for 400 inmates.
“But it now has to hold twice the number of its original capacity. The lack of water makes it impossible for the inmates to bath and wash as regularly as they have to and this creates conditions conducive for the spread of diseases,” he said.
The prison, he added, depended on reliable water supply to Effiduase, where the facility was situated, from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), but since the area experienced water shortages, the inmates’ need for water currently was in competition with the needs of the inhabitants.
Mr Dery also said the two mechanised boreholes at the prison had broken down and the administration required GH¢8,000 to repair them at a cost of GH¢4,000 each.
