afrol News, 18 October - The Ghana Bar Association has expressed its readiness to pile pressures on the Kufuor government to immediately close down and relocate inmates of the country's aged-old prison, James Fort Prison in the capital Accra.

The legal body passed a resolution for the closure of James Fort Prison during its recent annual general conference in the Eastern Region's city of Koforidua.

The bar suggested the speedy completion of the Ankaful Prison Complex in the Central Region as one of the interventions for the relocation exercise.

Nii Osah Mills, bar's National President told journalists that the "prison poses a great danger to both inmates and prison officers because its complex had seriously dilapidated."

“The James Fort Prison is an old structure located very close to the sea. There is constant sea erosion of the building coupled with the overcrowding at the prison can cause a major catastrophe. We as a nation cannot fold our arms until there is a major catastrophe,” Mills assured.

“Whilst we recognise the on-going ‘Justice for All’ programme as a first step towards the decongestion of the prisons, we urged the government to vigorously aim at improving conditions of the inmates of our prisons and officers of Prisons Service.”

By S. Makalo in Accra, Ghana

© afrol News

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