Five months old baby serves jail term

Kwame Addah, a four-and-half month old baby, is serving prison sentence at the Tamale Prisons through no fault of his. He was delivered inside the Prison by his teenage mother, Monica Addah, who is serving five years sentence for a narcotic offence. Monica is never willing to allow the child to go to anybody and prefers to be with in the prisons.

Monica was sentenced by the Bolgatanga Public tribunal eight months ago when she was five months pregnant. According to Prisons sources, Monica was arrested when she attempted to take Indian hemp to her husband Kojo Addah who was on remand at the Navrongo prisons for stealing.

Monica acknowledged the crime but explained that she was asked by her husband to bring along the polythene bag which was hanged in his room the next time she brought food for him. The bag was tied at the mouth and she did not check its content before putting in the bag containing the food for her husband. When she got to the Prisons gate, an officer opened the polythene bag and found the leaves.

Even though Monica’s case has come to the attention of the Minister of the Interior and the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) both seem to be helpless because the laws of the country do not make provision for pardon for narcotic offenders.