Justice For All; Judge confronts Prisons for keeping Inmate five months after released from court

The Justice For All Program, led by Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah, has uncovered a disturbing case of a 14-year-old inmate who was returned to the Kumasi Central Prisons five months after he was discharged by a Circuit Court in Nkawie.

The incident was uncovered during the program’s in-prison sitting on July 22nd, 2024, where cases of 31 pre-trial inmates were heard.

The Justice For All Program, which is a joint initiative between the Judicial Service and the Perfection Of Sentiments (POS) Foundation, has been working to reduce the population of remand prisoners in Ghana.

The program’s steering committee chairperson, Justice Homiah, was left unsettled by the discovery and demanded a further investigation into the matter.

According to her, the program will not leave the premises of the Kumasi Central Prisons until the 14-year-old inmate is released.

She expressed disappointment that the court would sign for an incarceration warrant when the same court had earlier ordered for the release of the accused.

“This is very unfortunate and we will ensure that this prisoner who has overstayed for five months leaves the Kumasi Central Prisons today before we also leave the premises. Had it not been the Justice For All program, we would not have uncovered this event,” she insisted.

The Acting Officer-in-Charge of the Ashanti Region Prison Command, CSP Alex Adjei, expressed surprise at the case, claiming that the inmate was brought back by an investigator with a valid warrant from the courts.

However, Justice Homiah was not convinced by this explanation and directed further investigation to unravel how a court would sign for an incarceration warrant when the same court had earlier ordered for the release of the accused.

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“I continue to ask who signed the warrant for the investigator to bring the accused person back to prison? In this case, he was discharged by the court. You have told me he has been released now but I am still probing for further answers.

The Justice for All program needs more answers,” she demanded.

The Justice For All Program has successfully reduced the population of remand prisoners from 33% to 10% between 2007 and 2024.

At its recent sitting at Kumasi Central Prisons, two mobile courts presided over by Supervising High Court Judge Justice Hannah Taylor and Justice Fredrick Tetteh adjudicated 31 cases.

The justices declined bail for 13 remand inmates, released 13 on bail with sureties, discharged three inmates, and struck out two cases for insufficient grounds.

Justice Homiah appealed to facilitators of the Justice For All Program to take advantage of plea bargaining to hasten trial and appealed for government’s support in fixing other factors causing unnecessary delays in the justice delivery system.

She also recommended that facilitators of the program should be interested in operationalizing the Criminal and Other Offences Procedure Amendment Act 2022, Section 162 on Plea Bargaining.

The Prisons Service and POS Foundation have been pushing for quick amendment of the criminal code to allow for non-custodial sentencing to reduce overreliance on imprisonment, which tends to worsen congestion in prison cells.

Statistics from the Ghana Prisons Service Records Unit show that as at December 2018, the total prison population was 14,910 against an authorized nationwide prison capacity of 9,875 with an overcrowding rate of 51%.

However, by May 2024, the total prison population was 14,647 against an authorized nationwide prison capacity of 10,265 with an overcrowding rate of 42.69%.

The reduction in overcrowding is a significant achievement for the Justice For All Program and its partners.

With continued efforts to address issues causing delays in the justice delivery system and improve plea bargaining processes, Ghana is on track to reducing its prison population further.

“I believe if we work together as stakeholders, we can reduce congestion in our prisons and ensure that our correctional facilities are not used as places of punishment but rather places where individuals are corrected and rehabilitated,” said Justice Homiah.

“This is not just about reducing overcrowding in prisons but also about ensuring that justice is served timely and efficiently. We will continue to work hard to achieve this goal,” she added.

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