By Dorothy Frances Ward
Kumasi, Dec. 31. GNA – Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, has asked officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and other investigative bodies to be more proactive in facilitating the timely trial of accused persons on remand.
She noted that many remand prisoners remained in custody for months, and in some cases years, without trial, an issue she described “as a violation of their fundamental human rights”.
She explained that such delays have significantly contributed to congestion in the nation’s prisons.
Justice Asare-Botwe made the remarks at a media briefing, after this year’s Justice for all Programme in-prison court sitting in Kumasi.
She expressed satisfaction with the introduction of the Justice For All Programme in 2007, describing it as a critical intervention aimed at promoting equity in the justice delivery system and decongesting prisons.
She said the Kumasi sitting saw four remand prisoners discharged, out of forty-one pre-trial cases reviewed.
Fifteen inmates were granted bail; three cases were dismissed, while one was referred to a psychiatric hospital for assessment.
Justice Asare-Botwe said among those discharged were two prisoners who had remained on remand for several years due to the absence of authorised signatures on their warrants.
She disclosed that, out of a national prison population of about fourteen thousand nine hundred and ten inmates in 2018, approximately one thousand nine hundred and ten, were remand prisoners.
She noted that the proportion of remand prisoners had reduced from about thirty-three percent to roughly twenty-two percent in 2025, largely because of the Justice For All Programme.
Justice Asare-Botwe further explained that the lack of legal representation and other administrative challenges often led to prolonged periods of remand.
She emphasized that the judiciary remained committed to proposing pragmatic reforms to improve criminal trials and jury administration as preventive measures to reduce prison overcrowding.
Assistant Director of Prisons, Courage Atsem, Assistant Director of Kumasi Central Prison, described congestion as a major challenge, noting that the facility currently housed about one thousand six hundred inmates, despite an approved capacity of seven hundred.
He expressed gratitude to the judiciary for the Justice For All Programme, saying it had played a significant role in gradually reducing the prison population to a more manageable level.
GNA
Edited by Kwabia Owusu-Mensah