The Crime Check Foundation (CCF), along with other civil society groups, including Amnesty International, have met former President John Dramani Mahama to discuss ways of improving conditions in Ghana’s prisons, where overcrowding is a big challenge.
Two other civil society organisations (CSOs), the POS Foundation and the Legal Resources Centre, also took part in the discussions, which emphasised the passage of the non-custodial sentencing bill into law to decongest the country’s prisons.
Former President Mahama expressed his support for the proposals and to improve the country’s prison conditions and uphold the rights of vulnerable people in society.
He acknowledged the urgent need to address the overcrowding, lack of resources, and inadequate facilities that had plagued the country’s correctional system for years.
He said the deplorable conditions in prisons were a dent in the country’s democratic credentials, stressing: “The conditions in the cells are terrible. Ventilation is very poor. The prison cells are overcrowded.”
He recalled that during his tenure, there were efforts that sought to broaden remand blocks and ease congestion in prison cells to improve conditions, but the efforts were abandoned after he left the office.
“I asked for the building of a remand block to move all the remand prisoners there to help decongest the cells,” he said. “This is something we support.”
Mr. Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Executive Director of the Crime Check Foundation (CCF) and Ghana Prison Service Ambassador Extraordinaire, expressed worry over the excessive delays in the enactment of non-custodial sentencing laws.
He emphasised the importance of the non-custodial sentencing bill to the country’s jail system, maintaining that its passage into law by the lawmakers would help prevent “sweeping” of petty offenders into prison, which is contributing to congestion in the limited prison facilities.
“We do not understand why the non-Custodial Sentencing bill is still in Parliament when we know its importance when it is passed into law,” he said, adding that, “The delay in its passage has created a situation where our prisons have become congested.”
This, he explained, means that “if petty offenders are quickly swept into prison, no matter how the decongestion approaches, the prison will continue to be full.”
Mr. Kwarteng pleaded with the former president, stating that he should use his influence to bolster the push for the non-custodial sentencing bill to be promptly enacted into law: “We want you to use your good office to drum home the need for that bill to be passed into law.”
Ms. Genevieve Partintin, Country Director for Amnesty International, called for optimum protection of the rights of women, especially those who are often molested for allegedly being witches.
She implored Former President Mahama to lend his voice to the call for a law that would put perpetrators behind bars, saying: “We want to ask you to add your voice to help move a Witchcraft bill that will ensure that people who maltreat women accused of witchcraft are jailed for at least a year.”
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