By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, June 11, GNA – Alhaji Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Executive Director of the Crime Check Foundation, has called on the government to establish jails across the country to ensure the proper treatment and separation of remand and convicted inmates.
He said the absence of designated jails had resulted in a situation where individuals who have not been convicted were forced to share prison facilities with those found guilty, a practice he described as an infringement on the rights of accused persons.
Alhaji Kwarteng, who is also a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana, researching on ECOWAS Migrant Prisoners, made the appeal after a visit to the Prince William- Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center in the United States.
The visit formed part of efforts to strengthen international collaboration on prison reform and the protection of inmates’ rights.
As Ghana’s Ambassador Extraordinaire for Prisons, Alhaji Kwarteng used the visit to engage with prison authorities, observe inmate rehabilitation programmes, and explore best practices in correctional facility management.
Jails are facilities used to detain individuals who are awaiting trial (on remand) or serving short-term sentences, typically less than a year.
They are distinct from prisons, which are designed to hold individuals convicted of more serious crimes and serving longer sentences.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he explained that the establishment of jails, particularly those allied to court premises, would also reduce the logistical burden on the Ghana Police Service.
“If jails are situated close to the courts, it will save police officers from traveling long distances to convey accused persons for court hearings,” he said.
He said the absence of jails across the country had also led to situations where many people had been left on prison remand for a long time without trial.
Alhaji Kwarteng recalled an interaction with former President John Dramani Mahama before he assumed office, during which Mr Mahama indicated
that construction of a remand block had begun at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison but was incomplete at the time he left office.
He said even though this was commendable, the emphasis should not be on building remand blocks within prisons, but on establishing proper jails separate from prison facilities.
“Our concern is that accused persons who have not been found guilty should not be housed in prison custody. We must consider the psychological effects, especially in cases where individuals are eventually discharged for lack of evidence. These people will have endured the trauma of being treated as convicts,” he said.
He emphasized that such practices were unconstitutional and violated the presumption of innocence guaranteed in the Constitution.
Citing Article 15(3) of the 1992 Constitution, he said: “A person who has not been convicted of a criminal offence shall not be treated as a convicted person and shall be kept separately from convicted persons.”
He further noted that the Foundation intended to seek redress at the Supreme Court to ensure enforcement of this constitutional provision.
“It is clear from the Constitution that accused persons must not be held in undesirable or inappropriate locations. Holding them in prisons, where they are mixed with convicts, is unlawful,” he added.
He also criticised the media for frequently using the term “jail” interchangeably with “prison,” urging journalists to be more precise in their reporting to reflect legal and institutional distinctions.
GNA
Edited by Christian Akorlie