23 Chaplains from Ghana attend 8th IPCA World Conference in Bangkok

One hundred and twenty-three Chaplains of the International Prisons Chaplains Association (IPCA) have participated in a world conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

The conference, the eighth in the series, which was under the theme “A Living Hope,” and lasted six days, drew participants from 33 countries, including 23 Chaplains from Ghana.

David Buick, the immediate past President of IPCA, said “prisoners need to have hope for the future, and that Chaplains have the responsibility to instill hope in them through the gospel.”

He said chaplains would be doing the world a great disservice if they failed in that regard; hence they should take their work seriously.

The President of IPCA, Marie-Louise of Sweden, asked members to be more committed to supporting and advocating for better care and love for prisoners around the world. He asked them not to relent in their efforts in soliciting continued support for inmates.

The conference, which serves as a platform for networking among IPCA members, is also used to strategise and evaluate IPCA’s impact on prisoners and its consultative status at the United Nations.

A declaration made at the end of the conference called on governments all over the world to apply all aspects of the “Nelson Mandela Rules” and the “Bangkok Rules” for the treatment of women prisoners and non-custodial measures for women offenders and massive prison reforms.

It also urged churches to promote restorative justice and the necessity for communities to see to the needs of victims and embrace inmates.

It asked them to form ‘Ministry of Prison Chaplains’ to enable them to welcome prison inmates to provide care and support for them.

The National Chairman of IPCA, Ghana, Rev. Steve Mensah, said members would be engineered to provide more support for prison inmates, their families and prisons in general.

Some IPCA, Ghana members at the conference included Dr Mrs Angela Mensah, Dr Evans Ekanem, Apostle James Tetteh, Rev. Philip Ahodokpo, Chaplain Gifty Mussey, Pastor Adjei Sowah, Elder Gyenny-Mensah, and Bishop Asiedu-Peprah.

By Raymond Kyekye

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