COMMITTEE SET UP TO INVESTIGATE JAIL BREAK (PAGE 42, JUNE 7, 2010)

THE Western Regional Security Council has set up a five-member committee of enquiry to look into the recent jailbreak and escape of prisoners at the Sekondi Central Prisons.
The committee has a Sekondi-based private legal practitioner, Mr Faustinus Fredrick Faidoo, as chairman and the Second-in-Command of the Second Battalion of Infantry of the Ghana Armed Forces in Takoradi, Major William Kweku Abokyi, the Principal Staff Officer of the National Security Council in Accra, Mr Samuel Bediako, and the Divisional Crime Officer of the Ghana Police Service at Kaneshie, Mr Kwaku Wonder Dogbevia as members.
Mr Kwasi Osei-Poku of the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council is member/secretary.
The committee’s terms of reference is to investigate the circumstances leading to the ability of some prisoners in the Sekondi Central Prisons to open the inner gate, gain access to the gate lodge, overpower the guards on duty in the gate lodge, break into the prison armoury and took possession and control of G3 riffles, ammunition and other weapons, open the main gate of the prison and escape on May 2, 2010.
It is also to investigate the response of the prison authorities on duty at the Sekondi Central Prisons on May 2, 2010 to the said jail- break and escapes and how the response facilitated or hindered collaboration with the security agencies in the region in the recapture or escape of some of the prisoners and weapons on the said day and after.
The committee will investigate other matters that are incidental to the foregoing in preventing future jailbreaks and escapes and the ability of the prison and security agencies to recapture such prison escapees and weapons.
It will make its findings and recommendations on the foregoing investigations to prevent future occurrence of similar incidences in the Sekondi Central and other prisons in the country.
The committee has 14 working days within which to submit its findings to the Western Regional Minister.
On May 2, 2010, some prisoners overpowered the guards on duty at the Sekondi Central Prisons, culminating in the breaking of jail of some convicted prisoners, who broke into the prison armoury and took possession and control of some G3 assault riffles, ammunition and other weapons and escaped amidst sporadic shooting outside the prison premises.
Six out of the 10 of the escapees have so far been re-arrested, while four out of the seven assault riffles have been retrieved with the remaining still in the possession of the escaped prisoners.
Speaking at the inauguration of the committee in Sekondi, the Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo stated that members of the committee were people with experience and that their professional experience would be brought to bear on the service to the motherland.
He said it was important for the committee members to realise that they were carefully chosen for the task so they must conduct themselves in a very transparent, friendly and unbiased manner so that it would be easy for prospective informants to approach it with whatever information or input they might have.
Mr Aidoo expressed the hope that the findings of the committee would be a very useful tool for the strengthening of the security system of the prison, and by extension, all prisoners in the country and further lead to an improvement in prison conditions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Faustinus Fredrick Faidoo, said the event of May 2, 2010 was a matter of great national concern.
He said members of the committee would use their expertise and experience to unravel the mystery surrounding the jailbreak.