MORE than 100 remand prisoners in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions whose cases had not been heard for specific periods have been given some reprieve under the Access To Justice Programme.
About 101 such inmates were granted bail during a special court sitting at the Kumasi and Sunyani prisons, while 10 other remand prisoners in Sunyani were acquitted and discharged by the special court.
At the Sunyani sitting, 41 remand prisoners were granted bail to reappear at a later date, while in Kumasi, 60 remand prisoners were granted bail.
The beneficiary remand prisoners, alleged to have committed minor offences, had been in prison between three months and 11 years without trial, and were treated under the programme designed to decongest the country’s prisons of remand inmates.
The continuous denial of the judicial process to determine the fate of such inmates is said to be a major cause of congestion in the country’s prisons, a situation which affects the smooth operations of Prison officers and their desire to implement programmes that would reform the inmates effectively.
The acute congestion also affects the health of the prisoners and the cost of treatment, as well as the budget for managing them.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on their operations, the Project Co-ordinator of Access to Justice, Mr Isidore Kwadwo Tufuor, said their initiative stemmed from the problems at the prisons and congestion in them.
Expressing concern about the congestion at the Prisons, Mr Tufuor explained that Access to Justice, funded by the Fordham Law School, aimed at providing legal aid for remand prisoners who had been incarcerated for a long time without trial.
He said their operations, which would be undertaken annually, would not only create avenues for remand prisoners to have access to justice, but would also reduce the acute congestion at the prisons considerably.
On why the remand prisoners were granted bail, he said their offences were minor so they deserved to be granted bail.
He said those who were acquitted and discharged had also either been denied access to justice for a long time or had minor offences pending against them.
This, he said, informed the trial judges to acquit and discharge them as the only option to grant them justice.
He described their initiatives as very successful, explaining that they did not anticipate that as many as 101 remand prisoners would be granted bail in Kumasi and Sunyani within a short time.
Mr Tufuor denied issues raised by a State Attorney in Kumasi that the Attorney General’s Department and the police in the region were not given sufficient time to investigate those who were recommended for bail, and that some of those granted bail had lied about their offences and period of incarceration to win the sympathy of the judiciary, saying sufficient time was given before they sat on their cases.
He explained that a stakeholders meeting was held in Kumasi on August 3, 2010 during which the Attorney General‘s Department was amply briefed on the initiatives and requested to inform their counterparts in Sunyani to prepare for the project.
He said if the department in Sunyani responded positively to the initiative, making it very successful , then those in Kumasi had no cause to complain.
He, however, commended them for their co-operation which enhanced the success of the programme.
Mr Tufuor also commended the Bar associations of the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, the police, Judiciary and Social Welfare, among other social groups, for their support.
He gave the assurance that the Leitner Centre for International Law would make the project an annual affair and offer justice to prisoners who deserved it.
He appealed to all stakeholders to continue to support the project to reduce congestion associated with remand prisoners in the country.
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