Asawase (Ash)-Ghana, Jan. 27, GNA – The Ashanti Regional Juvenile Remand Home, locate at Asawase, a prime area in Kumasi, is now a sordid place to behold.
The dilapidated nature of the buildings and other facilities, as a result of long neglect, has forced the closure of the facility.
The facility, which was closed about 10 years ago, is now the den of rodents and other wild animals, while juvenile offenders, who are supposed to be there for correctional purposes, are languishing in adult cells and prisons.
A juvenile home is a place for young and minor offenders, and it mainly focuses on correctional activities and provides help to young and teenage offenders.
The Ghana News Agency visited the premises of the facility on Thursday January 26, 2023, to assess the state of the facility after the Asokore-Mampong district court remanded 27 juveniles of Krobea Asante Technical and Vocational Institute at Asante Effiduase, for their involvement in violent disturbances which resulted in the destruction of many properties in the school.
The court directed the prosecution to send the children to the juvenile remand home.
Surprisingly, the GNA met many groups of rodents and other wild animals who were ‘dancing and enjoying the comfort’ of the facilities meant to provide correctional support to children.
Mr Francis Adjei, a Warder at the facility told the GNA that, the place had been in a very bad state for some time, and it was officially closed down some 10 years ago.
He said all efforts made to help revive the facility had proved futile and that the prisons’ authorities had no other option than to close it down.
Asked whether he had an idea where juvenile offenders who had been remanded are kept, he said some police stations in Kumasi had some rooms which are used as juvenile cells.
An attempt by the Ghana News Agency to get additional information from Mr Nawal Patrick, Ashanti Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare did not yield results.
