[ 2017-04-04 ]

Justice Clemence Honyenuga (middle) with some officials of the 'Justice for All Project'

Six prisoners freed
Six prisoners who were being held on remand at the
Sekondi Prison for various offences were freed
last Friday by the special court that sat at the
prison under the ‘Justice for All Project.’

The six were cautioned to be of good behaviour by
the judges before being discharged.

Eighteen other prisoners on remand were granted
bail. One had the bail application refused while
another one was referred to the psychiatric
hospital.

The cases of three remand prisoners were struck
out by the two special courts which were presided
over by Justices Clemence Honyenuga and Hanna
Taylor of the Court of Appeal and High Court
respectively. Two other prisoners were convicted.

Some of those granted bail broke down in tears,
claiming that they would not be able to satisfy
the bail conditions, especially getting people to
stand surety for them.

The prisoners were offered free legal
representation during the hearing of the cases.
The lawyers included Lucy Blay and Raymond
Akpatsa.

Justice Clemence Honyenuga told journalists that
the project would help to decongest the various
prisons in Ghana and noted that a lot had been
achieved since the implementation of the programme
in 2007.

He pointed out that in crime control, it is
important that due process is followed to avoid
abuse of the rights of the accused person.

DDP Nelson Duut, Western Regional Commander of the
Ghana Prisons, saw the overcrowding and congestion
at the cells as the major challenge.

He bemoaned the fact that so many inmates were in
the cells originally designed to contain numbers
far lower than what are currently being
accommodated.

The ‘Justice for All Project’ is being
executed under the auspices of the ‘Access to
Justice for Remand Prisoners Project’ in
collaboration with the Judicial Service, Attorney
General’s Department, Ghana Police Service and
Ghana Prisons Service.

Source - dailyguideafrica.com

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