Moves to re-intruduce weekend courts
Gilbert Boyefio
15/11/2006
The weekend court system is to be reintroduced to speed up trial cases and bail demands as part of measures to decongest prisons in the country and reduce detention of suspects.
All the existing laws in the Constitution of Ghana relating to non-custodial sentencing are also to be implemented by the appropriate authorities as a matter of urgency, to help address the severe overcrowding in the country's prisons.
These were contained in a communique issued by participants at the end of a three-day roundtable discussion on promoting non-custodial sentencing in Ghana"s criminal justice system held at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.
Participants included the Center for Democratic Development, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Justice and Women in Law and Development in Africa.
As at 1 November 2006, 3773 prisoners were held in remand nationwide - out of which 62 are females.
On a regional level, the Eastern Region had the highest number of people on remand with 1091, with the Upper West Region taking the lowest with 35 remand cases.
Greater Accra and Ashanti Region also had large remand populations, with 803 and 717 respectively.
The rest were Central Region with 267, Western Region with 265, Brong Ahafo Region with 216, and Volta Region with 178 on remand. There are 112 remand prisoners in Northern Region and 98 in Upper East,
Samuel Bosompim is the Public Relations Officer at CHRAJ. Speaking in an interview with The Statesman, he said that the introduction of non-custodial sentencing and faster court hearings will have a major impact and change for better the current procedure.
He pointed to several international agreements which must be adhered to as Ghana goes about revising any existing laws relating to restorative justice and prisoner rehabilitation. These include the United Nations resolution on the standard minimum rules on non custodial sentencing, the Kampala Declaration on prison conditions and the Ouagadougou Declaration and Action Plan for Accelerating Prison and Penal Reforms.
"A new law for comprehensive implementation of the NCS [non-custodial sentencing], taking into account the restorative, as opposed to the retributive form of, justice in Ghana be introduced", the communique stated.
The communique further noted that in consonance with Ghana's election to the UN Human Rights Council and in line with the country's progressive efforts towards human rights protection and promotion, prison officers be trained in matters of human rights to enable them to uphold and protect the rights of prisoners at all times.
The group called for the establishment of an inter-Governmental Committee, comprising representation from the executive, legislature and all stakeholders in the criminal justice system to regularly review the activities of the Police and prison officers in matters relating to the exercise of discretion, in order to limit the potential for excesses with specific regard to the rights of prisoners.
The communique appealed to judges and magistrates to keep records of remand cases brought before the court to facilitate effective monitoring of remand prisoners and to limit the potential for court officials and prosecutors to fix dates for hearings of cases without reference to judges and magistrates.
Another major change that the communique seeks to achieve is the revision of the current law to give the Ministry of the Interior the responsibility of transfer of juveniles from adult prisons to appropriate correctional centres, instead of the Ministry for Manpower, Youth and Employment.
Also to be added to the Ministry of the Interior is the Probation Unit of the Department of Social Welfare, to ensure better collaboration between the Police and the Prison Service.
Mr Bosompim noted that issues pertaining to remand should be taken seriously, since the liberty of the individual is at stake.
He identified the provision of resources to train more probation officers to enforce the NCS as one of the issues which needs to be solved of the roundtable decisions are to be effectively implemented.
He said more judges and magistrates have to be provided for the courts, especially in the rural areas to hear cases promptly.
"Inmates should also be able to adapt back into society, and therefore have to be trained to make ends meet on their own," he added.
15/11/2006
The weekend court system is to be reintroduced to speed up trial cases and bail demands as part of measures to decongest prisons in the country and reduce detention of suspects.
All the existing laws in the Constitution of Ghana relating to non-custodial sentencing are also to be implemented by the appropriate authorities as a matter of urgency, to help address the severe overcrowding in the country's prisons.
These were contained in a communique issued by participants at the end of a three-day roundtable discussion on promoting non-custodial sentencing in Ghana"s criminal justice system held at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.
Participants included the Center for Democratic Development, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Justice and Women in Law and Development in Africa.
As at 1 November 2006, 3773 prisoners were held in remand nationwide - out of which 62 are females.
On a regional level, the Eastern Region had the highest number of people on remand with 1091, with the Upper West Region taking the lowest with 35 remand cases.
Greater Accra and Ashanti Region also had large remand populations, with 803 and 717 respectively.
The rest were Central Region with 267, Western Region with 265, Brong Ahafo Region with 216, and Volta Region with 178 on remand. There are 112 remand prisoners in Northern Region and 98 in Upper East,
Samuel Bosompim is the Public Relations Officer at CHRAJ. Speaking in an interview with The Statesman, he said that the introduction of non-custodial sentencing and faster court hearings will have a major impact and change for better the current procedure.
He pointed to several international agreements which must be adhered to as Ghana goes about revising any existing laws relating to restorative justice and prisoner rehabilitation. These include the United Nations resolution on the standard minimum rules on non custodial sentencing, the Kampala Declaration on prison conditions and the Ouagadougou Declaration and Action Plan for Accelerating Prison and Penal Reforms.
"A new law for comprehensive implementation of the NCS [non-custodial sentencing], taking into account the restorative, as opposed to the retributive form of, justice in Ghana be introduced", the communique stated.
The communique further noted that in consonance with Ghana's election to the UN Human Rights Council and in line with the country's progressive efforts towards human rights protection and promotion, prison officers be trained in matters of human rights to enable them to uphold and protect the rights of prisoners at all times.
The group called for the establishment of an inter-Governmental Committee, comprising representation from the executive, legislature and all stakeholders in the criminal justice system to regularly review the activities of the Police and prison officers in matters relating to the exercise of discretion, in order to limit the potential for excesses with specific regard to the rights of prisoners.
The communique appealed to judges and magistrates to keep records of remand cases brought before the court to facilitate effective monitoring of remand prisoners and to limit the potential for court officials and prosecutors to fix dates for hearings of cases without reference to judges and magistrates.
Another major change that the communique seeks to achieve is the revision of the current law to give the Ministry of the Interior the responsibility of transfer of juveniles from adult prisons to appropriate correctional centres, instead of the Ministry for Manpower, Youth and Employment.
Also to be added to the Ministry of the Interior is the Probation Unit of the Department of Social Welfare, to ensure better collaboration between the Police and the Prison Service.
Mr Bosompim noted that issues pertaining to remand should be taken seriously, since the liberty of the individual is at stake.
He identified the provision of resources to train more probation officers to enforce the NCS as one of the issues which needs to be solved of the roundtable decisions are to be effectively implemented.
He said more judges and magistrates have to be provided for the courts, especially in the rural areas to hear cases promptly.
"Inmates should also be able to adapt back into society, and therefore have to be trained to make ends meet on their own," he added.
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