The Synod Moderator of the Ho East Presbytery of the E.P. Church, Ghana, Rev. Dr Mrs Vivian Balasu-Addo on Wednesday paid a goodwill visit to the Ho Female Prison.
She donated a consignment of food and items, including oats, water and sanitation paper in addition to lunch packs to the inmates, and pledged to sustain the gesture.
The items were received at the frontage of the prison by ASP Augusta Addo, Assistant Superintendent of Prisons and chaplain of the Ho Female Prison, in strict adherence of the COVID-19 safety precautions.
Rev Dr Balasu Addo said that the gesture was in line with the scriptures’ “directive to us to clothe our neighbours when they are naked and feed them when they are hungry”.
She said that convicts were only expected to lose their right to personal freedom and not their right to personal dignity.
The synod moderator stated that prisoners where an integral part of the society and needed the love and kindness of the society to reform.
Once convicts reformed, she said, they could easily reintegrate into society and contribute their quota in various ways towards national development.
On her part, SOP Mandy Mensah, Superintendent of Prisons who is officer-in-charge of the Ho Female Prison, expressed gratitude for the gesture and appealed to other public spirited individuals and corporate bodies to emulate the good example of the reverend minister.
She said that such supports often helped to bring smiles onto the faces of the inmates.
SOP Mensah touched on COVID-19 and announced that there was no case of the virus at the correctional centre.
“We strictly adhere to the safety precautions, which is why we do not allow visits into the prison for now, but rather instruct officers to go outside the gate to pick up donations meant for the inmates,” she explained.
Pix: Rev. Dr Mrs Balasu-Addo (third left) presenting the items to ASP Augusta Addo
 
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO