Prisons Service: Change our name to Ghana Correctional Service
The Ghana Prisons Service has recommended a change in name Ghana Correctional Service to reflect its actual purpose.
According to the Service, its mandate is to correct persons and not put them into jail, thus, its current name does not reflect its purpose.
It is, therefore, calling on the government to consider a change of name for the institution during the constitutional review.
Speaking to the media at the Annual Constitution Week Celebration held on the theme: ‘Three Decades of Uninterrupted Constitutional Rule: Revisiting the Agenda for Reforms,’ held in Accra, the Director of Prisons in charge of operations, Mr Samuel Akolbire, called for a change of name to reflect the current mandate of the Prison Service.
He said: “Over the period in the past, we’ve brought suggestions as to the change of the name. The emphasis now should not be Ghana Prisons Service, it will look like our preoccupation is to put people into prison and not to reform them”.
“So, we want the name to be changed from Ghana Prisons Service to Ghana Correctional Service and, so, it goes with the ranks of the most senior management persons. So that we’ll have from assistant director, it will now be changed to assistant controller of corrections, and then we have controller of corrections, and deputy controller of corrections and so this is in line with international best practices”.
He added: “People are moving forward, we should not be seen moving backwards with the use of this name, prisons, instead of corrections.”
