Community Sentences: Reducing Re-Offending, Addressing Prison Overcrowding And Changing Lives In Ghana Is Long Overdue

The comments and observations made by the international; agency that recently conducted a fact finding visits to our prisons is a clear indictment of the systemic Institutional failures of our criminal justice system, and a reflection of the inefficiency and ignorance of policy makers and their professional compressors about those important challenges confronting Ghana's criminal justice delivery system and what really needs to be done.

The hitherto knee-jerk approach to best practice, call it '' justice for all reform '' for instance and the unnecessary political speeches and long professional talks about reform of the criminal justice system has shown to be mere rhetoric and empty words without considered thoughtfulness and purposes of real action.

The prison over population, the huge financial burden on the public purse, the inhumane treatment of prisoners, the impact and implications of unhygienic and unsanitary conditions of the prison estates to even prison officers and their families should be enough for civil right activists , apologists of the rule of law and other penal reform adherents to start joining forces in advancing the penal reform agenda of the New Agenda, if the fundamental human rights of prisoners, especially the remand prisoners, are of any concerns and significance to them.

There is no doubt that Ghana's penal policy or criminal justice delivery system is fashioned to those legislative and practice policies and procedures which inform that of the British Criminal Justice System. Whereas the colonial masters have time and again reviewed and reformed their penal policy framework to reflect the exigencies of modern criminology and best criminal justice delivery practice, Ghana's penal policy has remained static without taking due cognisance of the needed change in penal policy direction, so as to offer relevant and appropriate meaning to punishment as a credible and prudent response to crime and disorder, where punishment has come to be redefined as the framework that provides opportunity for offenders to repay their due to society through their rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement back into community life.

This explains why Ghana's criminal procedure code presents as archaic, outmoded , superfluous , anachronistic and do not in any way reflect the pragmatic approach to preventing re-offending, offer protection to public , promote the offenders' rehabilitation, reformation , reintegration and re-settlement back into his/her community . it is in this regard that l consider our current criminal procedure code as no longer fit for purpose, if punishment is to be understood as providing rehabilitative paradigm .

For having custodial sentencing and fines alone, as the only sentencing disposals available to the sentencing courts as we currently have them, undermines the fundamental human rights of those persons who come into conflict with the law and a breach of the UN Minimum Standard Measures for Non Custodial Sentencing for Minor Offences – (Tokyo Rules, 1999 ) and an affront to the International Non –Governmental Organisation , the Penal Reform International's new agenda for penal reforms globally and the 1997 Kadoma Declaration.

The colonial inheritance has received continuous and continuing reform in the jurisdiction of its origin, where community sentences have become a central penal policy and criminal justice delivery theme , first introduced in 1907 for the '' probation '' of offenders. Currently, the British criminal justice delivery system provides a legislative framework which empowers the courts- judges and magistrates to choose the right mix of punishment, programmes/ activities and community supervision.

The courts are well positioned, empowered and supported to use any combination of 12 different requirements, of which each is adequately and professionally designed to offer punishment ( rehabilitation ), change lives and assists the offender address his/ her criminogenic needs and thus turn away from criminal lifestyles and behaviour.

The current British penal policy framework makes it possible for the sentencing courts to include intensive punishment,tight restrictions on freedom combined with a close focus on rehabilitation or making amends to the community or to the victims- ( community or direct- reparation.) Research evidence are abound reflecting community sentences as having the capability of providing a combination of punishment and rehabilitation which is efficient and effective in reducing re-offending and effecting change of the behaviours of offenders.

Notably, a common place example of a community sentence may consist of two-three years' community supervision under the direct supervision and management of a probation officer, compulsory attendance at an accredited group work programme or individually-tailored sessions to confront and address specific challenging lifestyle or behaviour such as drugs and alcohol dependency, domestic violence , drink-driving ,anger management ,general offender behaviour programmes- currently as the enhanced thinking skills and the think first initiatives, aimed at changing offenders' thinking and behaviour.

A further component of a community sentence may also include a curfew requirement to be supported by electronic monitoring and or the offender being made subject to a maximum of 300 hours compulsory unpaid work , under the direct supervision of a community service officer and a curfew order requirement of up to six months. The clear evidence to date is that community sentences work first and foremost because they combine punishment with the opportunity for offenders to address their offending and anti social behaviour and turn away from criminality having had the support and the opportunity of full rehabilitation.

This may explain what some commentators opine as good news for the offenders, as they become ''socially born again '' , turning their back to crime ,but much more importantly good news for the community, in terms of the relative safeguards , safety and public protection from the hitherto negative vibes and activities of the offender. In general, the success of the community sentencing framework is highly dependent on the professional quality, expertise and efficiency of a qualified and trained probation officer, who in intent and purpose plays the most responsible and crucial role in the management of the offending behaviour of offenders in a manner that offers quality professional service to the court on one hand and the offender, victims and the public on the other hand.

In making decisions for a particular community sentence order, the court would normally adjourn for a written or oral pre-sentence report ( PSR) to be prepared and or made available to the court. The PSR, will capture or describe the circumstances of the crime and any contributing factors and the assessment of any risks of the offenders' re-offending and any potential risks of harm to public safety, motivation for the offence, attitude towards the offence, the victim and the prospects of remorse and the prospects and the willingness to comply with the court order as regards the supervision plan that may be contained in the report aimed at addressing the offenders' negative and anti social lifestyle.

The probation officer by relevant training, education and qualification, is highly skilled in the science and art of using a specific system – the Offender Assessment System ( OASysm ) for the assessment of the risk of harm the offender may pose to public safety . This system is indeed considered as the most advanced systems of its' kind and takes into account the those factors that may have contributed to the offenders' criminal behaviour and antisocial lifestyle, which can include such elements as peer pressure, unemployment, drugs abuse and alcohol abuse and or misuse, etc.

The probation officer then uses or applies highly sophisticated professional techniques in undertaking the relevant assessments of the risks the offender is more likely to pose to the public and the risks of committing further offences. Thus the probation officer is professionally placed and equipped with the skills, knowledge and the expertise to identify and deliver what an offender may require to reduce his/her risks of reoffending and thus offer protection to the public.It will be the professional responsibility of the probation officer to ensure that the offender on community order and under his/her professional supervision gets a placement on any of the identified intervention programmes , comply with the standards of attendance and participation in all available tasks being provided by the programme organisers.

This allows for monitoring of compliance to the order and helps ensure the offender's rehabilitation. Furthermore, making certain that the offender undertakes the community unpaid work is equally the probation officers' duty and task, in as much as the applications of any such statutory sanctions such as breach prosecution as appropriate should the offender fail to comply with this element of the community sentence /order.

In those jurisdictions where community sentence is at the heart of criminal justice service delivery and practice, community sentence has contributed largely to the reduction of offending, preventing reoffending, has impacted positively on offenders view on offending, given the significant number of offenders who have turned their back to criminal lifestyles and have chosen positive and law abiding lifestyle in view of their new thinking skills and cognitive mindset about criminality and the rights of the public and public safety.

The practice examples of many countries even here in Africa , should be a satisfying enough evidence for Ghana 's political class , policy makers and criminal justice professionals to get back to basics and rethink this country's penal policy and indeed its' criminal justice delivery system . The New Agenda is of the professional opinion that ''Enough of the rhetoric, empty words and the pussy footing''.

The author is a social care and offender management and rehabilitation consultant and an ardent penal reform advocate. He is also the operations director of OMRO. For further details contact [email protected]/0248 416 287