Advocacy group pledges to pursue cases of wrongful convictions
An advocacy group, The World Human Rescue and Advocacy Organisation, has pledged to embark on a vigorous crusade to look into the cases of prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted and support them to secure their freedom.
The non-governmental Organisation (NGO) said similarly, it would also assist convicted prisoners who were serving sentences harsher than the crime they committed to have their sentences reduced.
The Director of Administration of the NGO, Delight Modzaka, said this at the inauguration of the group in Ho last Monday.
She said the move was meant to bring justice to victims of mistaken convictions and undue sentences by the law courts.
Miss Modzaka maintained that wrong convictions and excessive sentences had also contributed to congestion in the prisons.
She said that for far too long, some accused persons who could not engage the services of lawyers suffered from wrong convictions and that made them victims of injustice.
“But no one should go to jail as a result of poverty,” Miss Modzaka added.
The inauguration coincided with the donation of various items, including a television set, toothbrushes, a consignment of toothpaste, toiletries, medications and a packed lunch worth about GHS20,000 to the prison by the NGO.
Chief Superintendent of Prisons CSP Isaac Boakye, who is the acting Second-in-Command of the Ho Central Prison, thanked the group for the gesture.
He said there were now 381 inmates at the prison, which had a capacity for 150.
He said some of them were being trained in the areas of carpentry, masonry and kente weaving.
CSP Boakye said the prison had a greenhouse farm which operated on a commercial basis.
Education
On education, he said five convicts at the prison wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) two years ago and passed with flying colours.
The acting Second-in-Command of the Ho Central Prison said 42 inmates were currently receiving tuition at the basic education level, while six of them were preparing for BECE.
DSP Boakye said the youngest inmate was 21 years old and the oldest was 31.
He hailed the stance of the NGO to support wrongfully convicted prisoners to secure their freedom and equip them with skills, saying that would definitely serve the broader national interest, apart from contributing to justice and fairness in society.
