Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a Veteran Ghanaian media personality, has detailed his experience at the Nsawam Prison.
According to Kwesi Pratt Jnr, he was put in a cell with a South Korean convicted of murder.
Kwesi Pratt Jnr also narrated how inmates supplemented their diets under harsh conditions, recounting how inmates would hunt and kill pythons.
Speaking in an interview with Kafui Dey, Kwesi Pratt Jnr stated, “I was put in the same cell with a South Korean who had been convicted of murder. The officer informed me before he was brought in”.
“He taught me how to make beer using corn dough. We mixed it with yeast, tied it in cloth, and left it for a week or two, depending on how strong we wanted it. After that, you mix it with water, and it becomes beer,” he explained.
He added, “He would go out to work, kill a python, and bring it into the yard. That was how he supplemented his nutrition”.
“In prison, if you don’t get visitors, malnutrition can kill you. Many inmates depended on that meat to survive,” he added.
Also, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has revealed that he has been in prison about eighteen times.
According to Kwesi Pratt, he has spent nights in the Akuse Prison, Navrongo Prison, Tamale Prison, and Usher Fort Prison.
He further added that he has also been detained at the Police Headquarters and the cells of the Bureau of National Investigation a couple of times.
Kwesi Pratt disclosed that the longest period he has spent behind bars is six months.
Kwesi Pratt Jr. further disclosed, “The last time we sat down and counted, I’ve been to prison 18 times. I have been in the guard room in what is known as Gonja Barracks twice. I have been detained at the police headquarters a couple of times, and at Bureau of National Investigation cells a couple of times.”
“I’ve been detained at the Usher Fort Prison, I’ve been detained at the Akuse Prisons, I’ve been detained at the Navrongo Prison, Tamale Prison and several police cells,” he disclosed.
Kwesi Pratt further added, “There was one time I was told why I’ve been arrested, and I was actually interrogated, and that was once. This was in 1992 or 1993. I was arrested with Professor Adu Boahen, and we were charged with obstruction of justice”.
Also, Kwesi Pratt revealed that the Akuse Prison was his most difficult experience across the prisons, adding that food was served in a chamber pot.
According to Kwesi Pratt, in prison, there was a standard meal called Manpower and Zontoli.
“One of my most horrible experiences was in Akuse Prison, where they served the food in a chamber pot. There is what they call Manpower and Zontoli, which was standard. The Manpower was the soup, and this soup, if you look at it, you could see the few ingredients that were used to prepare it at the bottom; it was transparent. The Zontoli is supposed to be banku, but it was as hard as wood,” he added.