In a significant move to demonstrate affection and solidarity with incarcerated individuals, the Ankaful Main Camp Prison, in partnership with the Central Region Branch of the Ghana Tourism Authority, observed Valentine’s Day and National Chocolate Day with the prison inmates.
The event aimed to transform the prison environment through vibrant activities designed to facilitate inmates’ reintegration into the broader society.
Held on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at the Ankaful Main Camp Prison Yard, the event featured poetry recitals, music, and inspiring messages of hope, which motivated the majority of inmates to remain optimistic about their future prospects despite their current circumstances.
Inmates were permitted to express themselves through spoken word performances and songs, underscoring the value of Ghana’s cocoa, love, redemption, and the opportunity for second chances in life. They also savoured a diverse array of melodious music and danced to their satisfaction.
Discussing the underlying drivers of such prison activities, the Officer-in-Charge, CSP Linda Apore, emphasized the Service’s transformative agenda, which is centered on the ThinkPrison360° initiative. She observed that Ankaful Main Camp Prison is spearheading this initiative through mechanized agriculture and skills development programmess, including irrigation farming, kente weaving, shoemaking, yoghurt and sobolo production, and more.
These activities are designed to equip inmates with the necessary skills, enabling them to lead meaningful lives upon release from prison. She underscored that these transferable skills, imparted to the inmates, would enable them to achieve self-sufficiency and leverage those skills for seamless reintegration into society, thereby leading meaningful and productive lives.
In a gesture of appreciation, CSP Linda Apore took the opportunity to showcase some of the prison’s products and expressed her gratitude to the Director-General of Prisons, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, and the Central Regional Commander, Joseph Asabre, for their ongoing support.
The Central Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr. Charles Kweku Buabeng, who also addressed the gathering, underscored the importance of demonstrating love through the distribution of chocolate to prison inmates. “This is a day of love and we are here to express the same to our comrades who unfortunately find themselves in this situation at present,” he observed.
On the rationale behind their charitable act, Mr. Buabeng stressed that it was society’s responsibility to remember the less fortunate and vulnerable individuals during such occasions. “Every year we visit the vulnerable segments of our society; previously, we have visited an orphanage, a children’s hospital, and this year we are visiting the prisons,” he stated. He emphasized that their primary motivation was to celebrate such occasions with those who genuinely require love and care.
Furthermore, he noted that they have been significantly motivated by the inmates’ enthusiasm and appreciation, and he pledged to strengthen their partnership with the prisons by promoting their products to tourists visiting the region.
Following the official speeches, the president of the Rotary Club, University of Cape Coast Chapter, and the Regional Director of GTA distributed bars of chocolate to the inmates and donated a water reservoir, handwashing containers, and dustbins to enhance prison conditions.
There was an interactive session designed to convey compassion, dignity, and the transformative power of love, thereby encouraging inmates to envision themselves as valuable future contributors to their respective communities.
Source By DC Kwame Kwakye
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