Convicts languishing in jail over GHC250 court fines – Prisons Service

Ashanti Regional Command of the Ghana Prisons Service is appealing to the general public, philanthropists, and organizations to support the prison’s decongestion programme across the country.

According to ASP-Richard Bukari, the regional public relations officer for the Prisons Service their facilities are mainly overwhelmed by youth convicted in court for committing minor crimes which didn’t merit their conviction. However, their failure to pay various fines imposed on them for crimes such as assault and theft by the court has landed them in prison.

“Some youth are serving various jail terms at the prison facilities in the region for not being able to settle court fines as low as GHC250, a situation creating congestion at some facilities,” he said.

He, therefore, appealed to philanthropists to settle some of these fines for their release to help decongest the facilities from the health hazards to the inmates.

He said though the government has rolled out programs to decongest the facilities, the prevailing situation is still bad at the various facilities in the region.

“I will then appeal to individuals and organizations to assist the Prisons Service by paying fines of these inmates to allow those serving longer jail sentences to have space,” he pleaded.

He also disclosed that the Kumasi Central Prisons built to accommodate 450 inmates now contains over 3,000 inmates, creating discomfort to the inmates.