Criminal justice: Reforms needed

What are the means by which criminals are punished in Ghana? Section 294 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30) states the kinds of punishment we have in Ghana.

The following punishments may be inflicted for offences: death, fine, imprisonment, payment of compensation, detention and liability to police supervision. When we compare what we have here with what prevails in other Common law countries, we see some few differences.

In the UK, they have four: discharges, fines and compensations, community service, imprisonment and driving disqualification. Discharges are where the court finds you guilty but suspends sentence, and lets you off.

Normally, one would be conditionally discharged so that if within a period of say three years, you commit the same offence, or another crime altogether, the Court would then cancel the discharge and sentence you. It is similar to probation in the US.

In the US, where a person is already a convict prisoner, he could also benefit from parole. This is a system by which the convict is released from prison, normally for good conduct, and placed under a supervisor, while serving the rest of the sentence in the community, doing some work. When the person misconducts himself, he could be taken back to prison.

In Ghana, the congestion in the prisons is caused by the Police and Attorney-General’s office. The courts become also liable through tardiness in starting trials, and condoning the intemperate excuses of the prosecution.

Look at this matter. Yaw Kweku was a passenger seated in front of the taxi he boarded to a destination. Behind, two other passengers were also seated. One of the two pulled out a pistol at the driver and asked him to surrender his money, while the other attempted to pick what he could from the left side pocket of the door.

Fortunately, the driver was close to a police station and sped there; he dashed out of the car to report. The two passengers bolted. The police came and dragged out Yaw Kweku, who was still seated, confounded by what was happening.

They generously slapped him and put him behind bars as a suspected robber! They took from him his GH¢30, as proof of his robbery! The driver drove away never to be seen again!
Yaw Kweku was arraigned before the Accra Circuit Court and remanded in custody on 10-4-01.

The last time the case was called was on 29-3-06, and, altogether, it had been adjourned 96 times!! In August 2008, Yaw Kweku applied to the Accra High Court for discharge, and it was granted, after seven years in remand custody without trial. Was he compensated for injury to his constitutional rights? None!

The statistics available on what’s happening at our Prisons is reflective of the gross injustices taking place in Ghana, and the inhumane conditions in which our prisoners are kept.

Congest

The congestion in the prisons is harmful to the inmates. First is the poor feeding; second is the health hazards and inadequate health facilities to handle the diverse diseases of prisoners; third is the low ratio of officer to prisoner relationship for counseling and personal attention; fourth is the inadequacy and out-datedness of vocational and technical facilities for training; sixth is that of recidivism, estimated at 24 per cent of ex-convicts.

It means the persons consciously commit crime again to be returned to prison, which caters for their needs in some way. Eventually, the Prison Service is so overwhelmed they become virtually ineffective in impacting the prisoners positively.

The decongestion of the prisons requires Parliamentary attention and speedy work to enact legislation along the lines suggested herein.

• Community or non-custodial sentences should be prescribed for all juvenile cases, and misdemeanors.  Counseling and mentorship should be used as corrective measures to restore normalcy to deviant behaviours of juveniles. The 237 juveniles must be released from prison and counseled to normalcy.

• With regards to community work, the District Assemblies must liaise with the Prison Service for identification of specific works that would be productive of environmental health of the community, otherwise, mere physical weeding of anywhere would not benefit the community.

• Remandees whose trials have been delayed beyond two years should be released immediately. When the Police or the Attorney-General complete its investigations, or have completed the case profiles for quick trial, then they could always re-arrest the persons for trial.

• Presidential Pardons. Persons sentenced to death who have been sobered by prison life and have served say about twenty years or more of their life, could be considered for Presidential pardon. The Attorney-General and the Prison Service should work in tandem to effect this.

• Parole/Probation should be part of the legislation to assist in reforming persons.• Long serving prisoners must undertake vocational, agricultural works to prepare them for resettlement.

• With the passage in Ghana of the Narcotic Control Commission (Amendment) Bill 2023, cannabis (Wee) could be cultivated for industrial and medical use. Ghana must  decriminalize the possession and smoking of cannabis for recreational purposes.

Beyond

Beyond the law, the Attorney-General and the Police must be conscientious of the rights of persons assumed to be criminal. Does the AG know the status of remandees in our prisons: what they did; whether trial is on or not; how long they have been there?  

The meticulousness required of police investigations, along with the integrity of a case that the AG must assure itself of, before trial begins, are too often lacking, and that cumulatively adds to the gross injustice in criminal administration in Ghana.

The Judiciary have an equal work to-do. The current Chief Justice must demand and receive reports on the status of remandees in our prisons, so that the injustices associated with criminal administration stops, and the prisons are freed of underserving but suffering Ghanaians.

It seems to be that because most criminals come from the lowest stratum of society, we do not give them a modicum of consideration and respect, but leave them at the periphery of society in the penumbra of gross injustice.

The writer is asking for a rethinking about our attitude towards prisoners, accused persons, and suspects, in the administration of criminal justice in Ghana. NGOs and persons zealous of a nation thriving on the credos of Freedom and Justice must stand in defence of those values.

The writer is a lawyer.
E-mail: akwesihu@yahoo.com