The justice for all programme - Bringing justice to the vulnerable and poor

It is really good for the country’s criminal justice delivery system and an initiative worthy of commendation that the Justice For All Programme (JFAP), which is a collaborative effort among the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, the Judicial Service, the Police Service and the Ghana Prisons Service and seeks to bring justice to the marginalised and unrepresented remand prisoners, has helped reduce the number of inmates at the country’s prisons.

According to Ghana Prisons Service statistics, in 2007, 30.7 per cent of the country’s total prison population of 13,335 was remand prisoners but as of 2016, the JFAP had helped to reduce the remand population to 18.2 per cent.  It has been detected in the JFAP that many remand prisoners were virtually abandoned by police investigators or prosecutors without justification.

JFAP

Established in 2007, the JFAP aimed at decongesting the country’s prisons and promoting prisoner rights, especially those of remand prisoners. The programme actually involves the setting up of special courts at the prisons where cases of prisoners whose cases meet the criteria of the programme are reviewed. The JFAP has been beneficial to the vulnerable and poor who find themselves in detention for one reason or another and are unable to afford the legal fees and so self-represent or remain unrepresented.

Opening a workshop in December last year, on JFAP, the former Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, commended non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including Churchill, POS Foundation, HelpLaw and the Gimpa Law Faculty and some public-spirited individual lawyers for their indefatigable contribution towards the sustenance of the programme, pointing out that without the NGOs, most remand prisoners would have continued to languish in the various prison facilities nationwide.  She said the judiciary was committed to ensuring that the JFAP served the justice needs of the people positively.

Funding received from international bodies such as the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Star Ghana, the Department For International Development (DFID), the British High Commission, the European Union among others made the programme possible.

Other interventions in the offing to make inmates productive and contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of the country include the parole system and non-custodial sentencing in Ghana’s prisons.

International instruments

The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), the guardian of international standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, is mandated to support member states to put into practice standards and norms by assisting states to build a fair and effective criminal justice system. 

Over the years, a considerable body of United Nations standards and norms related to crime prevention and criminal justice has emerged.

Key among the standards and norms that relate directly to prison reforms are UN Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of prisoners, Body of Principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention and imprisonment, and United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for non-custodial measures (Tokyo Rules).

 Other UN instruments relevant to the prison system are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Basic Principles for treatment of prisoners among others.

The UNODC identifies overcrowding as the root cause of many human rights violations in almost all prison systems worldwide and, therefore, supports the introduction and implementation of non-custodial sanctions and measures.

According to the UNODC, the use of non-custodial sanctions and measures reflects a fundamental change in the approach to crime, offenders and their place in society, changing the focus of penitentiary measures from punishment and isolation to restorative justice and re-integration, and offering in the long term better protection for society.