Judicial Service pursuing reforms to ease prison congestion — Justice Mensah-Homiah
The Judicial Service is pursuing reforms to improve jury and criminal trials, including promoting plea bargaining and alternative sentencing to decongest the country’s prisons.
The reforms, which included support for plea bargaining under Section 162 (A) of Act 1079 and the introduction of non-custodial sentences such as community service, were critical to ensuring that persons who did not necessarily need to be in custody were not unduly imprisoned.
A Justice of the Court of Appeal, Angelina Mensah-Homiah, disclosed this during an interaction with journalists at a special in-prison court sitting at the Sunyani Central Prisons under the Justice for All Programme (JFAP) last Thursday.
Sitting outcome
A total of 19 applications were handled during the sitting.
Out of the figure, four cases were struck out, eight bail applications were granted, one was refused, and two inmates were referred for psychiatric treatment.
At the same time, four people were convicted through plea bargaining after pleading guilty to manslaughter instead of murder.
Additionally, 32 inmates with expired warrants, some dating back to 2024, had their warrants renewed for two weeks to enable their cases to be taken up by the courts.
Statistics available from the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) indicate that the programme has significantly reduced the country's remand prisoner population from 30.57 per cent in 2007 to 12.23 per cent as of March 25, 2026.
Intervention
Justice Mensah-Homiah described the development as “remarkable progress,” underscoring the impact of sustained judicial interventions aimed at decongesting prisons and improving access to justice.
She explained that the in-prison court sittings were designed to complement regular court proceedings by hearing applications filed on behalf of remand inmates to help address overcrowding, reduce case backlogs and ensure timely trials.
Citing Article 14(4) of the 1992 Constitution, she emphasised that persons arrested or detained must be released, either unconditionally or in reasonable conditions, if they were not tried within a reasonable time.
Challenges
Justice Mensah-Homiah, however, said the lack of a clear legal definition of “reasonable time,” coupled with institutional challenges, had resulted in many accused persons spending prolonged periods on remand.
She said this year’s programme was fully organised and funded by state institutions, such as the Judicial Service, the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, and the Legal Aid Commission through its Public Defender’s Division.
Justice Mensah-Homiah attributed the success of the programme to strong collaboration among criminal justice institutions, including the judiciary, the police, prosecuting agencies and legal aid services.
She stressed that the programme had also strengthened public confidence in the justice system.
Caution
The Appeals Court judge cautioned the public against paying money to benefit from the programme, emphasising that it was entirely free and strictly limited to remand prisoners.
“If you pay any money to any person, you do so at your own peril. Justice for All is free,” she warned.
Justice Mensah-Homiah clarified that the programme does not apply to convicted prisoners, who must instead seek redress through the appeals process.
She explained that beneficiaries were selected through a rigorous process involving interviews, court record checks and strict eligibility criteria approved by the Chief Justice.
A call for more
The Bono Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GPS, Superintendent Dennis Peasah, called for frequent Justice for All sittings to ease congestion at the Sunyani Central Prisons.
“If it’s more than once a year, that would be excellent because they will be looking at more cases, reviewing and adjudicating more cases,” he said.
Supt Peasah said that although the programme had significantly reduced the remand population, overcrowding remained a major challenge.
He stated that the facility, built in the early 1960s to accommodate only 400 inmates, now housed more than 608 prisoners.
“That is almost close to 80 to 90 per cent overcrowding, which is very serious,” he said.
Supt Peasah said the programme had helped to fast-track trials for remand inmates, some of whom had spent years in custody, thereby easing pressure on the system.
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