Plight of remand prisoners in Ghana

By Helena Selby
Human beings behave differently, some rationally, some irrationally, no wonder sometimes certain attitudes of some individuals seem unthinkable. Though one has the freedom to behave the way he or her pleases, it is not supposed to cause harm or become an inconvenience to people around, as some say, ‘your democracy ends where mine begins.’ In every society there are rules and regulations governing behaviours, and those who flout them are usually given some form of punishment, ostensibly to help them reform. The society has the police service and law courts to take care of such issues, with the police doing the arrest and prosecution, and the law courts to see to it that justice if done and the appropriate punishment, if there is the need, meted out to the offender.
Who convicts a prospective prisoner?
In every country or state, there are special bodies that take care of offenders of the law, and send them to the right places for punishment. In Ghana, the Ghana Police Service is the body mandated to tackle crime and hand over offenders to the Judicial Service – the courts – for prosecution and punishment.
The police hold the responsibility of anchoring the internal security of the state, to keep the peace. The Cheshire Police Website pointed out that, “There is the need for the police to uphold the law fairly and firmly to prevent crime. They have to pursue and bring to justice those who break the law, to protect, help and measure the community, and to be seen to do all this with integrity, common and sound judgment.
“The police must be compassionate, courteous and patient, act without fear, favour or prejudice to the rights of others. They need to be professional, calm and restrained in the face of violence, apply only a force which is necessary to accomplish their lawful duty, and strive to reduce the fear of the public.”
When the police in their course of their duty arrest a suspected law-breaker, they one is sent to a court of law for trial. The one is confined to a prison sentence if found guilty or sentenced to death, depending on the gravity of the crime committed, or set free if found to be innocent or for other reasons, sometimes technical.
Situation of prisons in Ghana
The Nsawam Medium Security Prison is one of the six prison establishments in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Apart from the new Ankaful Maximum Security Prison, currently under construction in the central region, the Nsawam Medium Security Prison is the largest prison in Ghana and has been operational since 1956. Though the prison’s ideal average capacity is 717, it now holds almost 3,000 inmates, with the staff strength at 330, comprising 30 superior officers and 300 subordinate officers. The officers/inmate ratio is thus 1:9.
The Deputy Director of Prisons in-Charge of the Volta Region is Mr. Alhassan Legibo, the Ho Central Prisons was built to accommodate 150 inmates, but now has a population of 483.
The Prison Commander stressed the on need for the Prison Service to re-examine the Ho Central Prison system, since unlike the Nsawam Prison, which has been filled with a lot of vocation and technology to equip prisoners, the Ho Central Prison has nothing of that sort.
Though once one is convicted of a crime, the ones loses certain rights, the one’s basic rights are still respected. On a visit to the Nsawam Media Security Prison, with the Minister of the Interior, it was noted that prisoners, apart from they being crowded in their various cells, the quality of food given to them was far from normal. Some of them even complained of getting frequent diarrhoea, infections and severe stomachaches. Many of them grumbled that the infirmary on the premises had no permanent doctors, and the drugs given to the sick, do not give the necessary relief. According to one inmate, Derrick Mensah, a member of the condemned cells, most of the remand prisoners were innocent, but their right of appeal, after conviction, had not been successful.
According to him, the necessary help needed for them to go on with the appeal, was not granted. Due to this a lot of them have ended up suffering from depression.
On behalf of his colleagues, he requested that permanent doctors be sent to the prison, to take good care of those who were seriously sick, as a result of the trauma they were going through.
Remand prisoners in Ghana
The situation of remand prisoners over-populating the various prisons in Ghana, can be solved if their cases are well dealt with, and their status well-defined. If remand prisoners are given the fair opportunity to appeal their cases, their right to enjoy freedom will be fully granted.
For example, in December 2000, the remand population stood at 202, whilst in December, 2002, the remand lock-up was 324. As at today, the remand population has risen to 1,903, and represents 64% of total inmate population. Currently, four of the eight housing blocks, hold remand prisoners.
This naturally comes with its attendant’s pressure on staff, logistics, health delivery and accommodation, as well as the possibility of an epidemic breaking out. The continuously swelling number of remand prisoners, are either under investigation, or awaiting trial. According the Eastern Regional Commander and a Deputy Director at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, DSP Ansong Yeboah, the delay was mostly owing to the prisoner’s documents being missing or the police officer responsible for him transferred or dead.
Reasons for being on remand
The Encarta Dictionary defines remand as an act in which the judge orders the return of a prisoner or accused person to custody, or arrange for somebody to be released on bail when a court case is adjourned.
Although remanded prisoners are usually detained separately from sentenced prisoners, due to prison overcrowding, they are sometimes held in a shared accommodation with sentenced prisoners. Moreover remand can cause hardships, and thus be a punishment for suspects. This can be quite difficult on those who have not been previously convicted of any crime, and have not yet been sentenced.
According to the Absolute Astronomy Website, suspects are remanded if “the suspect has been accused of carrying out a particularly serious offence, the suspect having previous convictions for similar offences, reasons to believe the suspect could leave the court's jurisdiction to avoid its trial and possible punishment, reasons to believe the suspect may destroy evidence or interfere with witnesses, the suspect is likely to commit further offences before the trial or the suspect is believed to be in danger from accomplices, victims, or vigilantes.” It is also relates to the imprisonment of criminal suspects awaiting trial, or a suspect who is denied, refused or unable to meet the conditions of bail, or who is unable to post bail, may be held in a prison on remand.
It continues that in most countries, remand prisoners were considered innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, and may be granted greater privileges than sentenced prisoners, such as wearing one’s own clothes rather than prison uniform, voting in elections, being entitled to additional visiting hours per week, not being required to complete prison-related work or education.
In Ghana, remand prisoners do not enjoy these privileges, as they are even deprived of the right to appeal their case. During the visit to the Nsawam Prison, many of these remand prisoners complained of the fact that nothing had been done so far, to get them to court to prove if they are guilty or not.
Some, according to them, have been on remand for the past ten years, and believe they would have served their prison term already, if they had been proven guilty. However since there had not being any verdict on them, they can hardly tell where their fate lies, since they do not know how many years are left for them, and who knows, some of them might even be innocent of the crimes they were being accused of.
Their rights, in one way or the other, are being abused in our various prisons.
Conclusion
In every country, whether democracy is being practiced or not, there are procedures through which criminals are taken. Whenever one goes against the laws of a country, one is sent to court, judged and when proven guilty is sent to prison, sometimes with hard labour, depending on the gravity of the crime. Why are people taken to jail when they commit a crime? Is it to reprimand them or correct them? Most times people are taken out of the society, whenever they are involved in a felony. Normally, the notion is that, they will be a sort of nuisance to the society and are sent to prison, which is supposed to be a correctional institution.
Community Sentencing, which in developed societies provides the opportunity to manage criminal behaviour in the community, has the advantage of making prison space available for more sophisticated, recalcitrant and entrenched repeat offenders, who mostly commit grievous and fatal crimes.It also provides the opportunity for inmates to have the chance to undertake rehabilitative programmes. In Ghana where there is nothing of that sort, the Minister of the Interior, Dr, Kwame Addo Kufuor, must try his possible best to discuss issues with the Attorney Gene