The outer side of the Kumasi Central Prison in the Ashanti Region has collapsed, Today confirm.
The situation, according to some residents who spoke to Today in an interview via telephone on Saturday, June 17, 2017, has raised security and safety concerns at the prison facility.
Although the wall separating both remand and convicted prisoners was not affected, some prison officers who spoke to Today on condition of anonymity, expressed fear that the entire structure may collapse since it formed part of the fallen wall that was constructed at the same time.
The collapse, Today discovered, followed a heavy downpour in the area on the night of Thursday, June15, 2017.
And though there was no casualty, Today was told that the windscreen and side glasses of a 33-seater bus belonging to the Ghana Prisons Service were damaged.
Also an empty lotto kiosk close to the wall was not spared as it was ripped apart by the collapsing wall.
Our visit to the prison facility immediately after the incident showed deep cracks on the walls.
The Kumasi Central Prison, which was originally built to house 450 inmates, now accommodates 1,700 inmates.
Speaking to journalists, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Kumasi Central Prison, Assistant Superintendent of Prisons (ASP), Mr. Richard Bukari, appealed to individuals and corporate organisations to come to their aid so as to help them prevent convicted and remand prisoners from escaping.
It would be recalled that in February 2015, fire gutted some parts of same prison facility, leading to disorder.
In the resultant confusion, some inmates escaped while the rest were relocated to ‘B Hall’ until order was eventually restored.
The development at that time touched the heart of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who declared his support for the relocation of the ageing prison located at the central business district (CBD) of Kumasi, Adum.
He pledged to offer a 500-acre land for the construction of a modern prison facility.
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