SAD CASE OF REMAN PRISONERS (SEPTEMBER 2, 2009)

THE plight of remand prisoners at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons cast a slur on our reputation as a country committed to freedom and justice.
It was revealed during a visit to the Nsawam Prisons on Monday by Mr Francis Emile Short, Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), that 1,554 remand prisoners had demanded their immediate trial since their continued stay in prison without trial was an abuse of their fundamental human rights.
It is difficult to understand why the prosecutors from the police service and the Attorney-General’s Department will keep remand prisoners in our prisons for as long as 20 years when the burden of proof rests on the prosecution.
The DAILY GRAPHIC is saddened by the plight of the remand prisoners in view of the principle in legal circles that it is better to have 99 criminals breathe the air of freedom than to have one innocent person convicted.
Most of the remand prisoners find themselves in their present circumstances because of their involvement in petty crimes.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks it is not just enough to bemoan the overcrowding in our prisons. The entire penal system requires an overhaul, if our prisons are to be decongested.
Oftentimes, judges are blamed for the delay in the dispensation of justice and the overcrowding in the prisons.
The courts only interpret the law and unless provisions of the criminal code are reviewed to give discretional powers to judges to grant bail for certain offences, our prisons will be choked with remand prisoners.
Also, police prosecutors and state attorneys delay trials when they plead with the courts for long adjournments to conduct investigations into the cases.
The DAILY GRAPHIC commends the CHRAJ for its persistent crusade for improvement in the conditions of our prisons.
Unfortunately, the CHRAJ does not have the powers of a court to grant bail to the remand prisoners. It can only sensitise the authorities about the conditions of the prisoners.
However, the good news is that the Minister of Justice, the Chief Justice, the Inspector-General of Police and other stakeholders have initiated moves to right the wrong inflicted on some of the remand prisoners.
Any review of the penal system should give our judges power to be innovative in dispensing justice instead of the general practice of what is called the “warehousing” of criminals.
The DAILY GRAPHIC recommends community service as an alternative to prison for petty criminals. This approach, however, raises the issue of the capacity of the Department of Social Welfare to supervise criminals on community services.
In many jurisdictions, petty criminals are forced to pay their debt to society by offering certain services to the community such as the clearing of garbage.
Our prisons should help to repair the deficiencies in prisoners and return them as productive members of society.
The thousands of remand prisoners in our prisons are knocking at the door of justice and it should be opened to them now.