A case of two wrongful incarcerations

I blame William Shakespeare for the sinister image of the month of March in some quarters. Evidently it originates from his play, Julius Caesar, and the soothsayer’s warning to Caesar predicting his death, “beware the Ides of March”.

For, as one reference work explains: “The Ides of March didn’t signify anything special in itself – this was just the usual way of saying ‘March 15th’. The notion of Ides being a dangerous date was purely an invention of Shakespeare’s; each month has an Ides (often the 15th) and this date wasn’t significant in being associated with death prior to (Shakespeare’s work).”

Those of us born in March have cause to resent the unfair perception about our birth month, because obviously every month has its share of negatives and positives. 

Anyway, I believe I can say that to Ghanaians March has had a special and positive aura since 1957 when this country gained its Independence on the sixth day of that month. And notably March hosts two other auspicious events, International Women’s Day on the 8th and Commonwealth Day observed on the 10th. 

It is interesting that this year, the three events came at two-day intervals. That is not always the case because Commonwealth Day is a movable feast. Its date changes as it is marked on the second Monday of March. 

I have been wondering whether there is any significance to the two-day intervals between them, perhaps some mystical meaning that has escaped me. Or maybe the people to ask are those who follow numerology – “the study of the occult use and supposed influence of numbers”.  

What I do know is that apart from the three consecutive commemorations, another coincidence that has made an impression on me this month is two remarkable, similar instances of lapses in the justice systems of America and Ghana, coming one after the other.   

News headlines tell the stories. The first, on March 13, was “US man walks free after 25 years on death row”; the second, on March 14, said ‘State to pay GH¢200,000 for unlawful detention’.

The US man, named as Glenn Ford, now 64, spent more than 25 years in prison, on death row in the US state of Louisiana, before he was freed after the justice system found that he was innocent of the murder he had been sentenced for. 

Mr Ford, a black man, had been found guilty by an all-white jury of killing his part-time employer, a white man. He had always denied killing Mr Isadore Rozeman but was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1988.

A District Judge overturned the conviction and sentence “because of new information that supported his claim that he was not present or involved in Mr Rozeman’s death, Mr Ford’s lawyers said.” 

According to the US media, there were many flaws in the Ford case, including the fact that a woman who had implicated him in the killing, later testified that she had lied.  

However, it might be some consolation to Mr Ford that Louisiana state law “entitles those who have served time but are later exonerated to receive compensation. It sets out payments of $25,000 per year of wrongful incarceration up to a maximum of $250,000, plus up to $80,000 for loss of ‘life opportunities’.” 

The news of the US man being set free after 25 years, following the overturn of his conviction, made me wonder whether something like that could happen here in Ghana.

To my astonishment, the very next day came the news of the Agyare case. As reported by newspapers on March 14, the Human Rights Division of the High Court, presided over by Mr Justice K. Essel Mensah, has ordered the State to pay GH¢200,000 as compensation to a man who the court found had been unlawfully detained at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison for 14 years. 

The victim, Francis Agyare, had been released on May 29, 2008 by Judge, Mr Justice D.K. Ofosu Quartey, under the Justice for All Programme. 

Although the lawyers for Mr Agyare had asked for compensation of GH¢2,000,000, the “court held that the prevailing economic situation in the country had to be taken into consideration,” the Daily Graphic reported.

The background: Mr Agyare, now 46, was arrested on January 5, 1994, alongside other suspected criminals during a police raid at the James Town Beach, in Accra, where he had gone to buy fish, because one of the suspects had pointed at Agyare as an accomplice. Without any investigation to ascertain the veracity of the allegation, Mr. Agyare was charged with robbery. 

In court, the police asked that Agyare and other suspects be remanded in prison custody pending further investigations. However, for more than 14 years, he was never given the chance to go back to court. 

In his affidavit filed in 2012, Mr Agyare’s lawyer, Mr Francis-Xavier K Sosu, stated that during his detention, Agyare’s wife had left him and his son had dropped out of school.

Mr Agyare’s lawyers and all those who fought to ensure justice for him deserve the highest commendation, although I wish the state could afford to give him a bigger compensation. And it’s a pity that it’s not a package that includes, as in the US case, compensation for “loss of life opportunities”.

On reflection, I suspect that in reducing the GH¢2,000,000 to GH¢200,000, the Presiding Judge wanted to ensure that it was a sum that the state could pay – and without further delay.  

If the application for compensation was filed as far back as 2012, it is sad that it has taken so long for the court to rule on the matter.  After all, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.

Furthermore, I wish that the police officers through whose negligence people like Mr Agyare suffer such hell on earth could be given fitting punishment to eliminate these lapses from our justice system. Equally importantly, the suspect who maliciously implicated Agyare should be made to suffer a stiff penalty for his wickedness.  

Something Mr Agyare told the media gives food for thought, especially as it confirms what has become a general belief. “He said there were countless other people in jail who did not deserve to be there but the system had made them convicts.”

Doubtlessly, few experiences could be as hellish as finding oneself in prison for a crime one didn’t commit – and suffering there for years, praying for a miracle. So I’m sure that to the two victims in America and Ghana, March is a month that now has no “Ides” effect.

Hopefully, the police and other criminal justice institutions are learning lessons from such cases to prevent the vulnerable falling through the cracks. 

Measures should be taken to free the alleged “countless other people in jail” for no offence.  By the same token, all the police and other state actors responsible for those unlawful detentions should be punished to underscore the fact that people put in such positions should live up to expectation.   

They must be held accountable for any unjustified detention of the voiceless and defenceless. 

(ajoayeboahafari@yahoo.com)