Mr Michael Bansah, Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service on Friday said that the social stigma attached to ex-convicts remained a major threat to their re-integration into society. “Our people still see ex-convicts as criminals and social misfits and are not ready to accept them,” he said. Mr Bansah said this at the inauguration of the Ho Central Prison’s Discharge Board in Ho. He said the situation was so bad that even families of some well reformed ex-convicts refuse to welcome them into their fold. Mr Bansah said the absence of societal acceptance had compelled many well re-formed ex-convicts to re-join criminals and become regular “re-offenders”. He urged the Board to help fight the societal stigma against ex-convicts and re-integrate them into society so they could contribute their quota to national development. Madam Emma Laryea-Sawyer, Volta Regional Director of Prisons, said the Board had not been in existence for several decades due to inexplicable reasons. Reverend Dieudonne Nuekpe, Have District Pastor of the Church of Pentecost, was elected Chairman of the 11-member Board made up of civilians and Prison Officers to offer regular counseling services to inmates to prepare them adequately for a successful reintegration into society.