Justice Asare-Botwe addressing the media after the in-prison court sitting
The Justice For All Programme (JFAP) last Wednesday extended its safety net to 22 vulnerable inmates at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, as the nation takes steps to further decongest the prisons.
A total of 12 inmates were discharged during a special in-prison court sitting while another ten were granted bail with various terms.
The two separate courts presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, a Court of Appeal judge and Justice Kofi Akuffo, a High Court judge, each refused two applications for bail for various reasons.
The inmates had been remanded at the prison for various offences, mainly murder and a few cases of stealing and unnatural carnal knowledge.
Most of them had been in remand custody for well over six years, with one particular inmate, Samuel Owusu Addo, being there for about 11 years but the last time he was sent to court was in 2018.
Other inmates had similar circumstances but in the case of Kofi Afum who was standing trial for murder, the Attorney General in an advice had called for a discontinuation of his trial following conclusion of investigations.
One thing that was discovered during the proceedings was that, almost all the inmates who appeared before the court were being kept at the prison although the warrant by which they were remanded had expired for so many months and in some cases, years.
There was a particular case where the District Court has completed the committal proceedings of an accused charged with murder since 2022, but the trial is yet to commence at the High Court because the lower court was yet to transmit the docket to the High Court.
However, they have been dealt different fates through the intervention of the JFAP mainly because their cases had been unduly delayed.
The programme organises special In-Prison Mobile Court sittings to adjudicate remand cases from time to time since 2007, due to the alarming overcrowding in prisons.
It is currently spearheaded by the Judicial Service of Ghana, facilitated by the POS Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, and coordinated by a National Steering Committee made up of the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Legal Aid Commission, and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.
A Court Of Appeal judge who supervised the in-prison sitting, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, indicated in an interview that current data shows a very significant reduction of prisoner overcrowding population from 51% as at December 2018 to 42.69% as at May 2024.
“From these statistics, the reduction in pre-trial detention population is quite significant, that is, from 33% in 2007 to 10.86% in 2024,” she said.
She was confident and hopeful that, in the near future, all the criminal justice institutions and stakeholders will collaborate to further reduce the period between arrest and final adjudication, adding that “this will certainly reduce the remand prisoners’ population.”
Justice Asare-Botwe stated that shortening pre-trial detention may also lead to substantial cost savings for the state, in terms of housing and feeding the remand inmates.
“On the flip side, delayed trials can lead to faded memories, lost evidence and other issues that impede the fair adjudication of cases,” she stated.
Justice Asare-Botwe also disclosed that the Chief Justice has already commissioned a Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee to identify the challenges affecting the criminal justice system in general, and propose pragmatic ways of improving jury trials and criminal trials in general.
“This Committee is working tirelessly with judges who conduct jury trials for expeditious disposal of cases,” she said.
She expressed concern that some non-governmental organisation (NGOs) use old data and statistics to create unwelcome stories about the Criminal Justice System in Ghana, especially about Remand Prisoners after only having heard stories told by prisoners.
She assured that remand prisoners in Ghana are not ‘Locked and Forgotten’ as stakeholders are working tirelessly to reduce the period between arrest, detention and final adjudication.
Justice Asare-Botwe finally admonished investigators to be diligent and not to leave the vulnerable remanded inmates to languish in prison for months and in some cases, years.
She also urged the police and investigators to refrain from presenting remand warrants to the court for renewal by the court officers, as by law it is only judges and magistrates who are authorised to renew and sign warrants for inmates.
The Executive Director of POS Foundation, facilitators of the Justice For All Programme, Jonathan Osei Owusu, urged cabinet to expedite action on the Community Sentencing draft Bill which seeks to impose community service instead of custodial sentence for minor offences.
This, he said will help further reduce overcrowding in the prisons, save the state funds and bring reforms.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak