Police Accused Of Imposing Age On Juvenile Offencers

Some juveniles in adult prisons are there because some police officers impose ages on them.

According to some participants at a national conference on child welfare and protection, last week, the police find the handling of juveniles offenders risky- juveniles offenders for instance are not supposed to be handcuffed, and there is a risk that they can bolt away.

Some officers, who handle the offenders, therefore ask them to register as adults.

Also, the police in areas where there are no juvenile courts prefer the short cut of sending the juvenile as an adult to a community tribunal nearby, to bearing the cost of transportation to communities where there are juvenile courts. They impose ages on the culprits so that they can stand before adult courts.

Aside that, juvenile offenders themselves fabricate their ages. They would rather serve a 6 -month sentence in an adult prison than 3 years at the Ghana Borstal Institute.

Sending juveniles to prisons holding adult offenders contravenes Act 15(4) of the 1992 constitution which says that a juvenile offender who is kept in lawful custody or detention shall be kept separately from an adult offender.

Though juveniles and young persons are to be held in an industrial school or Borstal institution, some end up in prison.

The Prisons Service acknowledges that there are juveniles in adult prisons, but say it is not their doing.

"Once they are sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction and covered by a valid warrant, we cannot refuse to admit them since we will be in contempt of court," said the deputy director of the prison service, H.O. Korney.

However, after admission, it is our duty to notify the Minister responsible for social welfare who would use his powers under S.381 of Act 30 to authorise their transfer to the Borstal Institution, he added.

Korney said the Prisons Service Headquarters has accordingly issued directives to the stations to submit all persons suspected to be juveniles to the medical authorities to ascertain their ages and inform the headquarters for further action.

He said while the Prisons Service is urging its stations to expedite action on the juveniles in prison, the police, the courts, probation unit of the Social Welfare Department should do their best to prevent the incarceration of juveniles in prison.

"The danger of criminal contamination to these juveniles, while in prison, cannot be underestimated," Korney said, " They are very vulnerable to negative influences from more depraved and sophisticated offenders and it is imperative to insulate them from such danger," he added.

The meeting discussed how agencies such as the judiciary, police, prisons, attorney general's, Ghana Medical Association and the media can work together to assist children who come into conflict or contact with the law.