Jailbreak committee presents report

The five-member committee set up by the Minister of  the Interior to investigate the fire outbreak and attempted jail break at the Kumasi Central Prisons yesterday presented its report to the Acting Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku.

The acting regional minister would forward the report to the Minister of the Interior for action.

The committee, headed by the Ashanti Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Peter Baba, which was inaugurated by the former Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, had among other things to investigate the cause of the fire that led to the attempted jail break and the brains behind the attempted jail break.

Presenting the report, Mr Baba said the committee interviewed 43 people including both convicted and remand prisoners, prison, fire and police officers.

Report

He said the riot at the prison was ignited by a fire outbreak in the B block and the segregation block leading to the inmates banging on the doors of the cells and breaking  the cell gates.

However, he said the swift arrival of sister security services helped to quell the attempted jail break.

He said the committee had made its findings and recommendations for adoption by the ministry.

Mr Opoku commended the committee for their work and promised to forward the report to the sector minister for action.

He asked the public to allow the minister to peruse the report before making its findings public.

Present at the ceremony were members of the Regional Security Council.

Background

On February 4, 2015, inmates of the Kumasi Central Prisons took advantage of a fire outbreak in one of the cells to break jail.

However, the prison officers sought the assistance of the military and the police to bring order to the facility.

One of the inmates, who attempted to snatch a police officer’s rifle, was killed in the ensuing melee.

Committee

On February 13, on the instruction the Interior Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, the Ashanti Regional Security Council inaugurated a five-member committee to investigate the causes and brains behind the attempted jail break. The committee had 14 days to submit its report.

It comprised  Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Peter Baba; Superintendent Martin Anku Blame of the Ghana Prisons Service; Captain N.Y.S. Mensah, Fourth Battalion of Infantry (4BN); Mr Festus Mensah-Gbekor, Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and Mr K. Osei-Poku from the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) .