The Chief Justice her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Woode has instituted a practice to get judges to visit the prisons every month.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Cxko8KdvJgmCp6rEnqFLX52q6YtZ5JU8″]Per this practice the judges will visit a prison facility to acquaint themselves with the conditions in the prison so they can be better informed when carrying out their duties.
This is part of the measures the Prison Service Council and the Chief Justice are taking to make conditions at the prisons better.
This came to light when the Council paid a courtesy call on the Chief Justice.
Chairman of the Prison Service Council Rev Stephen Wingam told Citi News the Chief Justice has already started this by leading some judges to visit the prisons.
“She has proven her commitment to it by getting some of the judges to visit the Akuse prisons over the weekend,” he revealed.
The focus of the Council is to improve the conditions at the prison which has been describe by a 2012 Amnesty international report on Ghana’s prisons as cruel, inhumane and degrading.
To overcome the issue of over-crowding the Chief Justice also indicated her commitment to ensure that the discharge warrant issued by the court for a prisoner’s release will be given directly to the Prison Service instead of the Police.
Gov’t targets end of 2015 for implementation of non-custodial sentencing
This comes on the back of the presentation of a report on non-custodial sentencing policy to the Chief Justice by the Interior Minister Mark Woyongo.
Non-custodial sentencing is a sentence given by a court of law which does not involve serving time in prison but it may include a fine, a restriction order, probation order or community service order.
In 2014, stakeholders in the criminal justice system collaborated with the Judicial Service, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General and the Ghana Prisons Service to find the possible ways to implement the non-custodial penal code.
–
By Betty Kankam-Boadu/citifmonline.com/Ghana