Ho, July 3, GNA - A 15-year-old JSS 2 pupil sentenced to a two-year prison term for stealing a mobile phone gained her freedom on Sunday, through the intervention of the Judiciary Committee of Parliament. She had served one week of the sentence when members of the Committee spotted her during a visit at the Ho Central Prisons. Mr Yaw Baah, Chairman of the Committee, told a public forum in Ho on Tuesday, that the members would pay the one-million-cedi fine to enable her to go back to school.
Speaking at the forum on the theme, "Non-custodial Sentencing in Ghana", Mr Baah expressed worry about the girl's situation and said, "All is not well with the country's sentencing policy". He stated that there were similar cases all over the country where minor and petty cases, which did not deserve custodial sentencing being treated as such.
Mr Baah noted that the situation accounted for the overcrowding in the country's prisons and called for a review. "It is shocking to note that for a capacity of 180, the Ho Prisons has 383 prisoners with 54 prisoners in one room majority on remand," he said.
Mr Baah said the situation undermined the country's image as a democratic nation and called for efforts to improve prison conditions to reflect Ghana's 50 years of independence.
Mr Ken Dzirasah, MP for South Tongu, observed that the country's penal system faced challenges and noted that the prisons were fast failing in their reformatory role.
He stressed the need for a crusade to resolve the challenges including the disparity in passing judgment.
Mr Dzirasah called for the establishment of more prisons and the separation of suspects on remand from convicted prisoners. A Supreme Court Judge, Mr Justice Ansah, questioned the justification for the custodian system and called for non-custodial sentencing. He stressed the need for strengthening the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system to reduce the load on the traditional courts. Justice Ansah urged Judges to encourage reconciliation between litigants even in some criminal cases.
Mr Nii Osaah Mills, Former Vice President for the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), appealed to the Police to act professionally and to handle cases humanely since many people paid service personnel for other people to be imprisoned.
Mr Charles Ayamdoo, Deputy Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), who said prison reforms, had delayed for far too long expressed concern about juveniles and suspects on remand being kept with convicted prisoners.
He noted that problems with the country's prisons were getting complicated with convicted pregnant women delivering in cells and stressed the need for the collaboration of all to solve the problem. Dr Apeagyei Atweah, a Lecturer of the University of Ghana, Legon and a Representative of the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana), described the situation of prisoners in the country as not different from that of slaves.
He blamed congestion in the prisons to lack of coordination among institutions in the justice sector and called for the introduction of measures to ensure that people were not put behind bars unnecessarily. The Volta Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bernard Dery, said the Police lacked resources and appealed to Ghanaians to sympathise and appreciate the efforts of the Service in protecting life and property.
