Remand prisoners appeal for speedy prosecution

Remand prisoners at the Sunyani Central Prisons have appealed to the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and other human right organizations to intervene to facilitate their speedy prosecution.

Alexander Kwabena Yeboah, spokesperson for the 60 remand prisoners, said though they had not been convicted he and other inmates had spent a number of years ranging from four to 16 years.

He made the appeal when the Brong-Ahafo Regional branch of the GBA presented used clothing, soap and other detergents to the inmates at the Central Prisons on Monday. The remand prisoner said most of them had been charged with robbery, manslaughter and murder and they had not been sent to court since they were placed in custody some years back.

Wofa Abu, one of them who said he had been in custody for about 16 years, told the GNA that “since I was brought here, I have not set an eye on the prosecutor working on my case”. Mr Eric Ansah Ankmoah, President of the Brong-Ahafo Regional branch of the GBA, assured the inmates that the Association would ensure that their fundamental human rights were respected.

He advised the inmates to see their incarceration not as a punishment but means to reform them to fit into society. Mr Ansah said the judicial system and the prisons administration had their peculiar challenges and appealed to the inmates to take opportunity provided at the prisons and acquire employable skills so that they could live on after serving their sentences.

Deputy Controller of Prisons Alhassan Nahii, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Commander of the Ghana Prisons Service, expressed concern about overcrowding at the prisons. He said instead of the designed capacity to accommodate 600, the Central Prisons currently contained 972 inmates with 264 remand prisoners.

The Regional commander said rehabilitation and expansion works ought to be done at the cells to accommodate more inmates. Joseph Grant, a remand prisoner who had been in cells for 12 years appealed to the GBA to intervene so that minors serving their sentences at the Central Prisons would be transferred to rehabilitation homes.