Treat bill to decongest prisons with urgency

One of our stories today talks about overcrowd­ing in the country’s prisons and the need to intro­duce non-custodial sentencing, especially for misdemeanours.

It is reported that the coun­try’s prisons must hold 10,265 inmates as their total capacity but currently contain 14,916, which surpasses the authorised capacity by 4,651 inmates, representing 45.31 per cent congestion rate.

Much as we acknowledge the fact that there can be overcrowd­ing in prisons across the globe, the overcrowding in the Ghana­ian prisons is abnormal.

Overcrowding in the country’s prisons is a longstanding matter and one wonders why it has been left to persist over the years.

Happily, a Member of Par­liament has proposed a private member’s bill to amend the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30) to introduce an alternative sentencing regime for misdemea­nours.

We hope the proposed bill would be given an urgent atten­tion and passed into law in good time.

We however, think finding alternative sentences for misde­meanours alone cannot solve the congestion in the prisons.

The other causes of the over­crowding must also be tackled.

For instance, the excessive use of the prisons for pre-trial detention is a critical issue that must be considered and elimi­nated.

We are aware that in 2007, the Justice for All Programme was introduced in the country as a State-led intervention, to address overcrowding in the country’s prisons by setting up mobile in-prison special courts to ad­judicate remand/pre-trial cases throughout the country.

Besides, there is the need to clarify all manner of legislation relating to holding people in prison custody so that those who deserve to be released can be given that opportunity in good time.

Article 14(4) of the 1992 Con­stitution, for instance, stipulates that a person arrested or de­tained but has not received a trial within a reasonable period of time is entitled to unconditional release or release subject to con­ditions necessary for reappear­ance for judicial proceedings.

However, since what con­stitutes reasonable time is not clearly stated, some people are held in prison for unexpected periods.

Overcrowding in prisons caus­es problems such as pressure on the prison infrastructure, difficulty in ensuring the quality of reformation and rehabilita­tion programme in place, and difficulty in achieving the desired security.

It is also said the health of inmates and prison wardens is jeopardised such that in some cases mental health problems that increase rates of violence, self-harm and suicide are record­ed. The problem of feeding the inmates adequately also cannot be ignored.

Maybe the country is yet to re­cord suicide cases but the mental problems are real.

What all the problems mean is that overcrowding in the coun­try’s prisons must be addressed as speedily as possible.

Some people are in prison by default all because of circum­stances beyond their control.

We believe steps to decongest the country’s prisons, including more prisoners undertaking community service, would help bring home these people, for example, to start new lives that can eventually benefit themselves and the society at large.

We therefore, support the proposed amendment of the existent law to decongest the prisons, but we wish the focus must not be on only misde­meanours but also other cases where certain offenders can be saved the ordeal of being held in prison.

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