17 remand prisoners in Sunyani freed

Seventeen (17) remand prisoners at the Sunyani Central Prison, including a 73-year old woman, have regained their freedom through the “Justice for All Programme”.

They had been held in prison remand for between three and 11 years over alleged murder, robbery and hard drugs.

“The Justice for All Programme” was introduced in year 2007 by the Attorney-General’s Department in partnership with the Judicial Service to deal with prison overcrowding by setting up special courts to adjudicate remand prisoner cases.

Justice Clememence Honyenuga, an Appeal Court Judge, who reviewed the cases of the freed prisoners told a media briefing that a total of 39 applications were received.

He said two of the applications were struck out while four of the applicants were convicted.

Seven others had their bail application refused and the remaining nine, granted bail.

Justice Honyenuga spoke of plans to set up permanent secretariats in all the 10 regions to effectively coordinate and manage cases under the programme.

This would allow for the appointment of judges to sit on remand prisoner cases regularly.

Deputy Controller of Prison (DCOP) Alhassan Natil, Director of the Sunyani Central Prison, said it was an important intervention that was helping to ease pressure on the facility.

Currently, the prison was holding in excess of 190 remand prisoners, he added.