Ambrose Dery – Minister of Interior
Penal Reform Ghana (PRG), an advocacy organisation, is calling on government to, as a matter of urgency, initiate steps to comprehensively reform Ghana’s prison system.
According to the organisation, the policy that regulates the country’s prison has become “anachronistic” and calls for a judicious review.
In a press statement signed by the Executive Director of PRG, Evans Oheneba-Mensah, it called for an amendment of Section 294 of the Criminal and other offences Act 1960 to, among other things, include more effective ways of punishment that would reduce the number of years convicts spend under custodial sentence.
It described Ghana’s system of punishment as “archaic and illogical” and suggested it could be the cause of delay in hearing and disposing of criminal cases leading to overcrowding in the country’s prisons.
Ghana’s remand system has been described by many as cruel and inhumane. It has become a source of worry for some civil society organisations which hold that to in this present time bail is unjustifiably denied to some accused persons.
Others have also expressed concerns over the situation where some accused persons are remanded for several years without trial, which is unquestionably an infringement on their fundamental human rights and an indictment on the country’s criminal justice system.
Ghana’s prisons are currently struggling with adequate facilities to accommodate the ever-growing number of inmates.
According to a 2016 records available to the Ghana Prison Service, the country’s prisons were overcrowded by 3,810 prisoners.
Although the 43 prisons in the country were originally constructed to accommodate about 9,875 prisoners, there were as many as 13, 685 inmates in 2016.
Penal Reform Ghana is, therefore, calling for the broadening of the country’s punishment system to include a probation period that allows a convict to spend part of the sentence in the community than spending the entire sentence in prison.
“Going forward we should consider using alternative sanctions for low-level non-violent offenders, in this way the prisons will be reserved for dangerous or violent prisoners who must be securely confined,” the statement said.
The statement commended the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo, for her keenness to reform the country’s penal system, which she has demonstrated through her unflinching support for the Justice For All Programme (JFAP).
It also applauded her for putting together a team to look into how non-custodial sentencing can be introduced into the penal system in Ghana.
The advocacy organisation pledged to follow the initiative closely and called on the media to show an interest in it.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak