According to the Ghana Prisons Service, the conduct of the two officials who helped Wang Xiao, a Chinese prisoner at Nsawam Medium Prison, escape does not represent the standards of the organization.The service insists that all of its officers follow a code of behavior that is professional and that they receive extensive training.Joseph Oteng and Sergeant Isaac Boateng Bonsu, two prison guards, are accused of plotting and facilitating escape. On these counts, they appeared before a circuit court in Accra.
Following a medical visit, the cops allegedly told their supervisors that a Toyota Vitz automobile pulled up and took the prisoner with it.Nevertheless, their story was refuted by CCTV evidence taken from a motel. In the video, the cops could be seen taking the Chinese prisoner to his wife’s hotel room. While the officers waited in the hotel reception area, the prisoner and his wife allegedly fled over the balcony of their room.The cops entered a not guilty plea. Mrs. Afia Owusua Appiah, the court’s presider, gave them bail in the amount of GH¢100,000 apiece, with two sureties to be proven.The date of their return is set for April 9, 2024. The complainant was the third in command at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, according to the prosecution, which was led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, and the accused were under his supervision.Superintendent Abdul Latif Adamu, the Prisons Service’s Chief Public Relations Officer (PRO), called the event regrettable during a Tuesday Eyewitness News interview with Selorm Adonoo on Citi FM.
He made it clear that the service does not support such behavior and that its officers are well-trained and subject to a code of conduct that is professional in nature.
The agency will keep educating and raising officers’ awareness of the importance of professionalism in their field of work, he continued.
“Our organization, as I mentioned, has standards. We have our training protocols and our behavioural codes. It is rather unfortunate that this happened, and I can assure you that it is because of issues like this that we have sanctions for workers who may act contrary to the codes of conduct of any organization. So for now, I wouldn’t want to comment on that because the case is still in court, and we want to see what the outcome of the case will be before we can actually comment on it.”
“Like the military will always tell you, in any given situation, there are some levels of casualties allowed. So I don’t think the behaviour exhibited by these two officers is a true representation of the behaviours of prison officers in general because these are only two out of thousands of prison officers who are behaving and going about their daily duties professionally.
“So yes, we don’t condone that. We frown on that. But we can assure you that our officers are professional, and we will also continue to educate them so they can be more professional in their line of duty,” he stated.
