J.W.K Harlley
Mr. Harlley made very important revelations about Kwame Nkrumah’s management of the country. His disclosure about how the President preferred using subordinate officers in carrying out his orders explained why certain anomalies existed in his administration.
Just why he preferred using Madjitey’s deputy to undermine the authority of the Police Chief was instructive. The following is the concluding portion of Mr. Harlley’s responses to the Commission.
Chairman: Do you think the issuing of instructions direct to a deputy
is in order?
Witness: No. The ex-President tried to do the same thing to me, but owing to
my previous experience in the case of my predecessor and his deputy, IÂ politely told the ex-President that I would rather like to have instructions direct from him.
Chairman: It would appear that the ex-President chose to issue instructions to those whom he liked and who were weak.
Mr. Acquah: That is one point; another point also is that in fact, if the top men had been tough, strong, and firm this country would have been spared some of its many troubles.
Mr. Cameron: In the same way we have found junior prison officers treat- inmates in such a way as to assert their authority punitively. This is both degrading on the part of inmates and prison officers and it calls for the raising of the standard of officers.
Dr. Danquah, being an old and sick man, for instance, would not have been so rigidly treated if prison officers had known what was expected of them.
Another point, which concerns the police also, was that of the unclassified detainees. People were just taken to be detained at any prison on the strength of a certificate signed by some three persons-s-a soldier, a policeman, and a security officer-which appears to be the only legal document for their detention.
Witness: This was a compromise between the security service at the time and the then Director of Prisons. The Minister of the Interior refused to take responsibility for his own orders and, therefore, didn’t like to sign detention orders, so this document came into being as a legal tender for detention.
Mr. Cameron: There was also another disturbing fact; although the P.D.A. was in existence, yet a mere instruction was given for the detention of some people without any detention order being issued.
This practice made it possible for a very large number of people to be detained, and security in the prisons, was greatly impaired.
Now there is a danger of the same thing occurring at the “moment, because there are no clear directions laid down regarding the treatment of those under protective custody, and I wonder why there could not be such directions and a special place set aside for them.
In this regard, I have taken the liberty of drafts, recommended detention regulations and conditions of detention, which proposals will accompany our final report.
As I have already said, we have found that the attitude of junior prison officers towards prisoners is very bad indeed and something drastic must be done about their training.
Chairman: Yes, I think detainees should be kept separate from convicts so that there would be no confusion between the two categories of people.
Medical Service: We have found that medical service in the prisons is not up-to-date. Whilst it is laid down in the Prison Regulations that adequate medical attention should be given to prisoners, this, in fact, has been hampered owing to the shortage of medical officers in the country. There is a threat of’ overcrowding in the prisons and if unfortunately there is an epidemic, the situation will be tragic.
Chaining: Chaining is definitely done at random in the prisons, but it is laid down under the regulations that only violent inmates should be chained.
However, I am not surprised at all that prison officers are in the habit of doing that, because we had a bad President who could order people to be taken to prison and chained.
Mr. Cameron: Again, this is all due to the mentality or the prison officers. Chaining should be done strictly as a security measure or for preventing lunatic inmates from injuring themselves or others. There is no doubt at all that prison officers have been using chaining as a punishment and not as restraint as laid down in the regulations. People have been chained down for days, and it will not speak well of the staff if this iniquitous practice prevailing, in the prisons is known outside.
Overcrowding: We found that there were over 2,000 inmates at the Nsawam Prison which has been built for 700. At the Kumasi Prison also there were 902 inmates in the place of 300; this is a really serious situation. Most of the inmates sleep on bare iron bedsteads – no mattresses, no blankets. The case of those on remand is even worse, for they sleep on the floor with only a blanket or a piece of cover-cloth provided them.
Discipline: Discipline in the prisons is the wrong type. There is no proper rapport between inmates and Warders. The Warders are in the habit of intimidating the inmates: there IS no doubt about that, which does not engender good relationship between them.
Morale of Staff: We have found some prison officers in rags who have had little or no training and, therefore, do not actually know what they are required to do. Definitely this sort of thing will naturally affect the morale of the staff and something must be done about it.
All this will be contained in our final report, but I have thought it necessary to mention it to you at this state in order that something urgent is done about it. We have also incidentally spoken to the Principal Secretary, Ministry of the Interior, about it.
On the police side, we have heard cases of brutality and other alleged malpractices but making allowances for untruths and exaggeration there remain some that should perhaps be looked into. In this respect, I note that the police recently set up an inspectorate. It might be possible therefore for this inspectorate to have some liaison with Prison Visiting Committees and a  Prisons Inspectorate which we shall recommend should be established so that  such cases have some means of being heard.
Mr. Acquah: When there is a proper inspection in the prisons, many of the wrong things like stealing of food from the kitchen could be checked. Those concerned with inspection should be detached from administration in order that they may have sufficient time to do their inspection.
Inquest: At the moment no inquests are held on deaths occurring in the prisons; for instance, a prisoner is pushed and he falls over to his death, and nothing is done about it.
Mr. Cameron: Yes, I must stress that any death should be reported immediately to the coroner, and an inquest conducted on it in order to safe-guard the prison officers from any possible rumour-mongering.
Chairman: Thanks very much for coming round. I must say that it was sheer wickedness to detain a person like Dr. Danquah in a condemned cell. Â This case is so serious that I feel we must single it out in our report.
Witness: I also thank you very much for all that I have learned from you this morning. I certainly didn’t know very much of what exists in the prisons and I shall do my best to see to some of the urgent ones.
By A.R. Gomda