“Prisoners who asked to see their lawyers were given solitary confinement instead. Complaints were ignored. Visits were cancelled without any reason. The food got worse and our letters were cut up more than before … the warders were drunk and they made fun of us as we stood shivering. After an hour, Govan collapsed with chest pains…”
Nelson Mandela in “Long Walk to Freedom”
THE WRITING OF THIS PIECE HAS NOT been motivated by the incarceration of the Montie – Trio. No, not. Judgment in their trial for contempt has been given– four months in jail – and there has been a mad rush by ministers and the NDC apparatchiki are appealing to the President to use his ‘Prerogative of Mercy’ to get them out, as per Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution. But he is advised by political analysts to ‘look before he leaps’. Any attempt to set the Montie – Trio free will likely lead to a constitutional crisis, a political melee and a personal infamy (to the President). Whatever time they spend in jail, they will come out sooner or later, to a tumultuous welcome and proudly wear the tag” “Prison Graduate”; they might display heroism and they would be the toast of the NDC—the hurt to the judiciary, notwithstanding!
The Trio, like the ‘Big Six’, who include Kwame Nkrumah and J.B. Danquah, will ride triumphantly and like Mandela , “The stadium (would be)over flowing with (NDC) people: 120,000 (would be) squeezed into every inch of space. (They would tell) the people how happy (they would be) to be back among them”.
This article had been ‘on the drawing board since the executive of the Ghana Br Association (lawyers of Ashanti) made a historic visit to the Central Prison in Kumasi on Friday, 17th June, 2016 a part of our social responsibilities. The action was prompted by reports that the prison was choked and the conditions of inmates were getting worse; but in spite of this, the courts were ordering more and more suspected culprits to be incarcerated, though there were several options available for achieving the same goal.
The Prisons Service has had a chequered history. Cape Coast Castle is recorded as among the first prisons, or most probably the first prison to be established in 1841, with prisoners kept in chains. In 1876 the Gold Coast Prison Ordinance was promulgated on the model of the English Prisons Act of 1865. The Prisons Department was placed under the Police Administration and this arrangement as in vogue until 1920 when it was hived off from the Police Administration and put under an Inspector – General of Prisons. It was in 1964 that the Prisons Department became autonomous, ceased to be part of the Civil Service and was given the name Ghana Prisons Service.
The mission of the Ghana Prisons Service states: “The Ghana Prisons Service is tasked with the safe custody of convicted persons from the courts as well as the provision of Reformation and Rehabilitation programmes for their successful resettlement into society. Our cherished values are humanity, vigilance and fortitude”.
Ghana has a population of 14,150 convicted prisoners and 2,600 remand prisoners. They are to be found in one maximum prison, 7 central prisons, 14 local prisons, 7 female prisons as well as 11 open and agricultural settlement camp prisons, together with a juvenile rehabilitation centre. It is all too clear that our prisons hardly meet the United Nations Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Among the provisions in the document is: “Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners; persons imprisoned for debt and other civil prisoners shall be kept separate from persons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence; young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults”.
Also, that ; “….every prisoner shall, in accordance with local or national standards, be provided with a separate bed, and with separate sufficient bedding which shall be clean when issued, kept in good order and changed often enough to ensure its cleanliness”. Again, “ … in order that prisoners may maintain a good appearance compatible with their self – respect, facilities shall be provided for the proper care of the hair and beard and men shall be enabled to shave regularly”. In addition, “….the medical services should be organized in close relationship to the general health administration of the community or nation. They shall include a psychiatric service for the diagnosis, and in proper cases, the treatment of states of mental abnormality”.
Of great importance is the provision in the guidelines that talks of providing the prisoners with “food of nutritional value adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality and well prepared and served, as well, with drinking water made readily available.”
At the time of our visit, all the inmates were eating gari – perhaps that was the menu for the day. Or rather, as was eavesdropped and gleaned from the place, that was the regular diet. The kitchen was a very active place, that is, if you would discount the smoke that was emanating from the firewood. What could one do with the paltry feeding allowance. The prisoners looked happy – at least for seeing that people who “work at the courts” that sent them to prison had come to witness their plight. Those weaving kente cloths could not be distracted by our presence. Their being kept busy made them forget about their plight, although just temporarily-before they were locked inside again- packed like sardines. The infirmary was very well – kept and there were health attendants attending to inmates who had minor health problems. Those whose diseases were major were referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. There were some 80 year-olds jailed for 10, 20 years, for defilement. Kofi Seidu of Sawua has been jailed eleven years for contempt, and he had done one year at the time of our visit
We were grateful to Lord Nii Boye Tagoe, the Deputy Director and his able staff who politely answered questions from the team, comprising Francis Koffie, Stephen Oppong, Mrs. Eudora Dadson and a few others. We had come; we had seen; but it was not likely that we had conquered. There might be a whisper to the honourable judges that the prison is choked and so as far as is possible , an alternative condition to remand may be considered – or else, the bail conditions may be reviewed, so that instead of asking for the lease on a building, an ordinary allocation plan or site plan could be sufficient.
As Rev Dr Stephen Wengam, Chairman of the Prisons Council notes, “The situation on the ground is very grim and further aggravates the suffering inherent in incarceration”. Pray that you do not fall foul of the law and that you are not sent into the dungeon, called prison.
Africanus Owusu-Ansah
africanusoa@gmail.com