Construction works on a special court meant to adjudicate remand cases at the Kumasi Central Prisons is about 90 per cent complete.
The facility which is being funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is the second in the country after the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in the Eastern Region.
It is expected to contribute significantly to government’s efforts to decongest various prisons across the country when completed as remand inmates would no longer be detained for long without trial.
According to Ghana Prisons Service statistics, the total prison population as at February 2016, was 14,534 out of which 2,464 were remand prisoners on pre-trial detention, representing 18.2 per cent.
Overcrowding was said to contribute to the prevalence of communicable diseases in the prisons, a situation compounded by inadequate medical facilities and the fact that the prisons only supplied the most basic medicines to the inmates.
Lengthy pre-trial detention therefore remained a serious problem in Ghana as some detainees served more time in detention awaiting trial than the actual sentence the crime required.
It is against this background that government through the support of DANIDA is putting up remand courts in various prisons to facilitate speedy trial of remand cases to free up spaces in prisons.
Justice Clemence Honyenuga, Chairman of the Justice For All programme (JFAP), believed that the construction of remand courts was a laudable intervention that would not only decongest the prisons but also deliver justice to some remand prisoners who were kept in prisons unjustifiably.
He stated this when he led members of the programme as well as the media to inspect the progress of work after an in-prison hearing for remand prisoners under the JFAP. He hinted that another remand court would soon be constructed in Tamale and called for the support of all stakeholders to enhance the justice delivery system.
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