Steering Committee Chairperson for the Justice For All Program Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah has directed investigations into reasons why the Kumasi Central Prisons has held an inmate five months after a circuit court in Nkawie discharged him.
The inmate was identified when the Justice For All Program held its in-prison sitting on 22nd July, 2024 at the Kumasi Central Prisons where the cases of 31 pre-trial inmates were heard.
The Justice of the Court of Appeal, Her Ladyship Justice Homiah was unsettled by the development as she insisted she and her colleagues were not leaving the premises of the Kumasi Central Prisons until the inmate was released.
“This is very unfortunate and we will ensure that this prisoner who has overstayed for five months leaves the Kumasi Central Prisons today before we also leave the premises. Had it not been the Justice For All program, we would not have uncovered this event,” she insisted.
Responding to the incident, the Acting officer in Charge of the Ashanti Region Prison Command CSP Alex Adjei expressed surprise with the case.
He contended that the inmate was brought back by an investigator with a valid warrant from the courts.
“I am surprised by this Nkawie case but it is not our fault. So far as the warrant is genuine, we don’t know any other thing until the police come for you,” he explained.
Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah would still not be assuaged with the explanations as she directed a further probe to unravel how a court would sign for an incarceration warrant when the same court ordered for the release of the accused.
“I continue to ask who signed the warrant for the investigator to bring the accused person back to prison? In this case, he was discharged by the court. You have told me he has been released now but I am still probing for further answers. The Justice for All program needs more answers,” she demanded.
Outcome of Sitting
Two in-prison mobile courts presided over by supervising high court judge Justice Hannah Taylor and Justice Fredrick Tetteh adjudicated 31 cases at the Kumasi Central Prisons
The justices declined bail for 13 remand inmates, successfully released 13 on bail with sureties, discharged 3 inmates and struck out 2 cases for insufficient grounds.
The Justice of the Court of Appeal Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah was satisfied the Justice For All Program has successfully reduced the population of remand prisoners from 33% to 10% between 2007 and 2024.
She appealed for the program and its collaborators to take advantage of Plea Bargaining to hasten trial as the Chief Justice works at finding and fixing other factors causing unnecessary delays in the justice delivery system.
“facilitators for the Justice For All Program should also be interested in the operationalization of the criminal and other offenses procedure amendment act 2022; Section 162.An on Plea Bargaining. It is also essential and I believe this will help in reducing overcrowding in prisons across the country,” she recommended.
POS
The prisons service and the facilitators of the Justice For All Program – the Perfector Of Sentiments (POS) Foundation, pushed for the quick amendment of the criminal code to allow for non-custodial sentencing to reduce the overreliance on imprisonment which tends to worsen the congestion in prison cells.
Executive Director of POS Johnathan Osei Owusu commended President Nana Akuffo Addo for approving that the Judicial Service, instead of donors and Civil Society, champions the Justice For All Program with co-funding coming from the government of Ghana.
He was confident Ghana’s successes which have become the shining lights for countries like Kenya which has adopted the same processes, will be replicated in several other countries across Africa.
Current Prisons Population
Statistics from the Ghana Prisons Service Records Unit revealed that the total prison population as at the end of December 2018 was 14,910 against the authorized nationwide prison capacity of 9,875 with an overcrowding rate of 51%. The population comprised 13,000 convicts and 1,910 pre-trial prisoners. This put the pretrial prisoner population of otherwise remanded prisoners at 14.69%.
Data from the Prisons Record Unit shows that by the end of May 2024, the total prison population was 14,647 against the authorized nationwide prison capacity of 10,265. The total prisoner population comprises 13,057 convicts and 1,590 pre-remand prisoners.
The current data therefore shows a very significant reduction in prisoner overcrowding from 51% as of December 2018 to 42.69% as at May 2024.
In the year 2007, the remand population was 4,285 which constituted 33% of the total prison population. The pretrial population currently is 10.86%.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/Ivan Heathcote Fumador
