Prison Command launches inter-stations sport festival to promote fitness 

The Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regional Command of the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) has launched inter-stations sports festival to promote physical fitness of personnel.

Under its ‘Think Prison 360 Degrees’ programme, an innovative approach to transform and enhance the image of prisons, personnel of the Yeji, Duayaw-Nkwanta, Kenyasi and Sunyani Central Prisons are participating in the festival.

Speaking at the launch of the event in Sunyani, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP) Thomas Otsokpo, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Commander of the GPS, said the festival was to also strengthen unity, teamwork and physical well-being of the personnel.

He said: “The festival gives us the opportunity to renew our bonds, relieve stress and remind ourselves that a healthy officer is indeed a productive officer.”

DDP Otsokpo said: “The Think Prison 360 Degrees’ initiative was introduced by the Director General of Prisons, Mrs Patience Baffoe-Bonnie and represented a new and comprehensive approach to improve inmates’ reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration.

He said: “The initiative challenges prison officers to view prisons, not merely a place of discipline, but also as centres of transformation, empowerment and hope,” saying the command had undertaken various agricultural and infrastructural projects to improve the welfare of both inmates and personnel.

DDP Otsokpo urged personnel to renew their commitment to service, remain innovative, promote teamwork, and called on individuals, organisations, and stakeholders to partner the service towards the implementation of various projects of the initiative.

“Together, we can expand these initiatives and create a more impactful and transformative correctional system in the country.”

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Joseph Addae Akwaboa, the Bono Regional Minister, lauded the initiative, noting that the initiative remained a renewed commitment to strengthening the prison system through collaboration, visibility and collective responsibility.

He emphasised that: “A true 360-degree approach must encompass the welfare, morale, and professional development of personnel as well as rehabilitation, employable skills training, and psychosocial support for inmates.”

Mr Akwaboa said community partnerships, reintegration pathways, infrastructure development, logistics, modern correctional tools, public education, institutional transparency,  as well as health and sanitation, safe living conditions, technology, data-driven management, staff wellness, resilience, and mental health were required to improve the conditions of the nation’s prisons.

“The Think Prison 360 Degrees initiative, therefore calls on us to view the nation’s correctional system, not merely a place for confinement, but as a societal programme dedicated to rehabilitation, reintegration, security and human dignity.”