Continued Challenges Of Prison Congestion In Ghana

l followed with such keen interest the vetting of the deputy minister designate for the ministry of justice and the attorney –general's department, honourable Dr. Dominic Ayeni and his professional opinion on the cancer of prison overcrowding and his far reaching suggestion on the need for sentencing guidelines for our sentencers, as pertains in most civil and democratic jurisdictions, given its relevance to prison decongestion.

Undoubtedly, a similar submission was made during his delivery of a paper at the justice for all reform seminar held at Akosombo in December 2009, at the attendance of all heads of the responsible stake-holders of the country's' criminal justice delivery system.

However, the first draft sentencing guidelines, a work of the sentencing review committee that culminated out of this seminar has since remained in the archives of the ministry for justice and the attorney-generals' department gathering dust ,given it was presented to it sometime in April 2010 without any concerted action to date.

Dr. Ayeni's call for the development of sentencing guidelines for the courts and his grave concerns about our prison congestion, may not have been necessary on this occasion if only the work of the sentencing review committee were given an appropriate and serious attention all these years, putting in place the relevant and appropriate legislative and systems frameworks as suggested by the consultant to the review committee in his summary and recommendations.

This would have saved government and of course the tax payer huge financial resources that have since gone into the management of an unnecessary over populated prison estates and the half-backed ' justice for all programme', but for confronting and addressing the prison congestion phenomena in a holistic and more prudent manner in promoting prison decongestion and the fundamental human rights challenges of those prisoners, imprisonment might not have been appropriate ,necessary and relevant.

The first draft sentencing guidelines reflect the research evidence that offenders who commit minor offences or misdemeanours , non custodial measures have proved to be the most prudent and credible options of their sentencing given the numerous advantages of this approach to penal policy.

Besides providing the framework for rehabilitating the offender, confronting the offender to take responsibility for their anti social behaviour, offer protection to the public, the non- custodial measures for such minor offences also provide the unique opportunity for the resettlement of the offender back into his/her community, where they can begin to contribute positively towards community development and nation building.

The greatest advantage is that alternative to custodial sentencing also provides the mechanism for addressing the immediate concerns of the victim through restorative justice, victim-offender conferencing and mediation, which allows for the victim to reach a closure. It is agreed that for those offenders who commit heinous, horrendous, serious and dangerous crimes, custody may continue to be inevitable, where their rehabilitation should begin. Another clear benefit of the approach is the big boost to addressing prison over population and or overcrowding, which is far more practical, sustaining and viable than the current justice for all reform strategy.

The arguments against alternative to custodial sentencing in our country has not been, that it is unsustainable or against the fundamental rights of the citizenry or the cultural ethics of the society, but on the rather weak professional excuses of the lack or absence of authority or indeed legislative framework.

The question that has always worried me is whose responsibility it is to initiate the needed and or required legislation that can empower the courts to acknowledge, appreciate and value the needed change or initiate the required amendments to Ghana's criminal procedure code, which has remained the proverbial '' albatross'' on the neck of best professional approach to our criminal justice system.

Undoubtedly, Ghana's criminal procedure code has been fashioned to that of the British criminal justice legislative framework since independence. Paradoxically, whilst the British have time and again amended their criminal justice policies and procedures to reflect the exigencies of modernity and civility, Ghana has notoriously stucked to a criminal procedure code which has become much more of an anachronism and no longer fit for the purpose it was designed for.

Throughout the several advocacy for penal reform in our country, l have never hidden the truth that Ghana can benefit from an approach and representation to the international Non-governmental organisation , the penal reform international for professional and technical guidance, support and or assistance in this direction.

As part of the recommendations that accompanied the draft sentencing guidelines of the sentencing review committee , an unequivocal suggestions and advice for the urgent need to make an approach to the PRI was made, with references to other countries on the African continent such as Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger with the latest country being Liberia who are beneficiaries of this collaboration and partnership in placing non-custodial sentencing into the heart of their criminal justice reform agenda.

Significantly, the professional assessment is that, prison congestion in our country, raises the fundamental questions about the dangers and shortcomings of the lack or absence of sentencing guidelines for our judges and magistrates in the jurisdiction. International and best criminal justice delivery practice acknowledges and give credence to sentencing guidelines as fundamental requirements that characterise most criminal justice systems and in particular the United Kingdom criminal justice system which constitutes the repository and main sources of our criminal procedure code.

It is therefore a challenge and difficulty to appreciate and understand how Ghana could be so zealous in fashioning its' criminal procedure code on that of the UK's criminal justice legislations yet has failed to express the same level of zealousness at reforming its penal policy to reflect the modern and internationally accepted agenda for criminal justice delivery system.

For one thing sentencing in the UK courts are determined by what is known and referred to as the'' Magistrates Guidelines For Sentencing'', which provides for a holistic approach to sentencing ,reflecting uniformity and real justice for all.

Sentencing is never neither at the whims nor caprices of the sentencing courts ,given there are a variety of ingredients that the courts are to take into consideration in passing sentence for example : the nature and the circumstances of the offence, the offence seriousness , the social history of the offender, the motivation for the offence, the offender's attitude to both the offence and the victim, the offenders' understanding of the impact of the offence on the victim, the offenders level of remorse and victim impact assessment undertaken by a trained and qualified probation officer.

These provide the opportunity for the courts to have an overview of the offender and positions them to impose relevant and appropriate sentence, one that ensures that the offender is confronted and challenged with his/her offending behaviour within a positive framework, address the offending behaviour within the context of appropriate supervision plan through offence focused work/therapy, behaviour modification counselling and support and any other assistance the offender may require to desist from further offending and or recidivism.

In this way public protection is guaranteed to a large extent, the scope of rehabilitating the offender and resettlement back into his/her community as a law abiding citizen becomes a realistic prospect. An ongoing refresher course(s ) as happens in the UK and other jurisdictions for judges and magistrates are never seen to be a luxury but a necessary safeguard against the blatant misuse of sentencing powers and the play to the ''gallery'' approach to justice , with its consequences of sentence disparities and prison congestion or over population.

In democracies where justice is valued, injustice of any kind is considered as an affront to good governance and indeed a breach of peoples' basic fundamental human rights. Re –thinking penal reform as in direct compliance with the United Nations Standards Minimum Rules For Non-Custodial Sentencing and the Penal Reform International agenda for penal reform globally should and must be taken seriously in Ghana this time to refrain from the political 'pussy-footing' professional naivety and ignorance.

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