Twelve remand inmates, who had been accused of stealing, murder, having unnatural carnal knowledge, among other offences, have been discharged from the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in the Eastern Region after spending long periods, some up to 11 years, on remand without trial.
Many of them, who had never stepped outside the walls of the prison since their remand, had spent between 13 months and 11 years with expired remand warrants and had not been taken to court for trial during the period.
Their release was a result of the activation of an intervention launched in 2007 to address prison overcrowding by bringing the courts to the doorstep of remand prisoners.
Dubbed “Justice for All Programme” (JFAP), the initiative is being spearheaded by the Judicial Service of Ghana, facilitated by the POS Foundation, a civil society organisation, with other stakeholders in the justice delivery system, such as the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Legal Aid Commission and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.
At the special court sitting last Wednesday, Justices Kofi Akuffo and Lydia Osei Marfo heard a total of 24 cases, with some of the inmates securing bail and others having their bail conditions varied.
In the case of 51-year-old murder suspect, Nana Kwame Badu, who had spent nine years on remand, the court decided to discharge him because the last time he was sent to court was seven years ago in 2017.
The state prosecutors were not opposed to the motion for the accused to be discharged following a prayer for his release by his counsel, Rita Ali.
His story was not different from that of young Jonas Appiah, who had been accused of stealing an Itel mobile phone for which he had spent 13 months on remand without trial due to limited information to properly prosecute him on the alleged offence.
The discharged suspects expressed relief and thanked the courts and the implementing partners for coming to their aid through the initiative.
Commendation
Addressing journalists after the hearing, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, who commended the JFAP initiative, urged law enforcement agencies to work diligently to prevent pre-trial inmates from being unjustly left to languish in prison.
Justice Asare-Botwe said keeping accused persons behind bars without trial was a clear violation of Article 14(4) of the 1992 Constitution, the provision that required a person to be tried within a reasonable time or be released.
She added that the lack of a clear definition of “reasonable time” in the Constitution had resulted in lengthy pre-trial detentions and prison overcrowding.
The Appeal Court judge, however, expressed confidence that with continued collaboration among criminal justice institutions, the period between arrest and final adjudication could be significantly reduced, ensuring that justice was served promptly for both victims and offenders.
“It must be emphasised that victims of crimes must not be left out when we talk of justice for all. In other words, victims, as well as the offenders, deserve justice. Communities and the nation as a whole must also see that justice is done,” she said.
Justice Asare-Botwe announced that currently, the Chief Justice had set up a committee to identify the challenges affecting the criminal justice system in general to propose pragmatic ways of improving jury trials and criminal trials in general.
Bill
The Executive Director of POS Foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu, underscored the importance of pushing for the passage of the Community Service Bill into law.
He stated that the Bill, if passed into law, would significantly improve the conditions within the country’s prisons and also save the state from incurring unnecessary expenditures related to the prison system.
“We are praying and calling on Cabinet to expedite action so that the Bill can be out before Parliament before October so that some of these people can join community service without going through the prisons to become hardened,” he added.
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