REMAN PRISONERS RESORT TO VANDALISM (PAGE 3)

A number of remand prisoners at the Sunyani Central Prison in the Brong Ahafo Region have allegedly resorted to acts of vandalism because of frustration resulting from long delays in the adjudication of their cases in the law courts.
A convict at the prison, Eric Quaye, who painted a sordid picture of the frustrations of the prisoners and conditions of the remand prison to the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, last Thursday, said some of the cases had been pending before the courts for between seven and 12 years.
Quaye told the minister, who was visiting the prison, that without any provocation, some remand prisoners who had been there for those periods allegedly fought other inmates to relieve themselves of their frustration.
He alleged that some dockets on the cases which were in the custody of the police were missing, while some of the police investigators had refused to escort those on remand to the courts.
Currently, there are 839 inmates at the Sunyani Central Prison, out of which 635 are convicts, 176 on remand and 28 facing trial. The number of prisoners in the region, including those at the Duayaw Nkwanta, Kenyasi and Yeji camps, stands at 1,293.
Quaye, who acted as the spokesperson for the inmates, further alleged that even when the police came for prisoners on remand for court, the police returned with the excuse that they did not meet any judges to hear the cases.
He intimated that some of the police investigators were in league with the complainants in some of the cases and alleged that some of those complainants had paid money to the policemen handling the cases for them to delay their early adjudication or discontinue with the investigations.
In one instance, the spokesperson, who was once working with a mining company in the Brong Ahafo Region but has been incarcerated because of financial malfeasance, said a man who had committed a crime with another person had long completed his prison term of 10 years while his accomplice, who is currently suffering from stroke, was on remand.
According to him, remand prisoners were a source of worry to the other inmates, pointing out that “they are difficult to control by the selected leaders of the inmates”.
On other problems in the prison, Quaye indicated that some of the convicts were grappling with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) but the only available drug administered to them was paracetamol, adding that “para is used to serve all sick prisoners”.
He emphasised that characteristic of all TB patients, those suffering from the disease coughed and spat anywhere but there were no detergents and soap to clean the cells and other areas.
“We use raw water to bath, wash and clean the place,” he said.
Quaye said because there were limited toilet facilities for the inmates, some of them soiled themselves while they were in the queue waiting for their turn, while others fought to secure their positions in the queue.
One startling revelation he made was that there were minors staying and mingling with the hardened criminals, pointing out that human rights activists did not visit the prison to know the plight of the minors and fight for them.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Commander of the Ghana Prison Service, Mr Jacob Agambire, who conducted the regional minister round the premises, corroborated the story told by the spokesperson and said his outfit was using the available resources to manage the prison.
According to him, on three occasions he had rejected some minors who had been sent in by the police by citing the Children’s Act but later he had to be made to appear before the court, where he was cautioned to desist from interference or face sanctions.
Mr Agambire called for the replacement of the Prison Service Decree of 1972 with an Act of Parliament to reflect the constitutional dispensation of the country.
According to him, the prison yard was originally designed to accommodate a maximum of 400 inmates and, therefore, urged the government to address the situation as a matter of urgency.
He suggested that the courts should down suspended and community sentences, and impose fines, as was practised in other jurisdictions, saying that “in Ghana the only way to punish criminals is to imprison them, which is not the best”.
Meanwhile, the Brong Ahafo Regional Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has presented 10 packets of roofing sheets, 40 student mattresses and 40 mini bags of rice to the prison authorities to help solve some of their problems.