Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood has urged judges to help decongest the country’s prisons through their sentencing.
The Chief Justice noted the prisons should be decongested because the construction of new prisons alone will not solve human rights violations of the prisoners.
“Our prisons are overcrowded. Human rights advocates are worried about the treatment meted out to both convicted prisoners and accused persons on remand but building bigger and better prisons cannot be the answer or solution to the persistent complaint of overcrowding,” she stated.
[contextly_sidebar id=”2eD2L241nTEF1DTs78M13ujf7FyK0zU0″]Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Sentencing Guidelines, her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood therefore asked judges not to unnecessarily expose petty young offenders to excessive sentencing to help decongest Ghana’s prisons.
Ghana has 43 prison facilities and according to reports, 28 are said to be overcrowded by as much as 358 percent.
The situation, according to prison officials makes it difficult for them to effectively manage the institutions.
However, in May this year, the Ghana Prisons Service began a nationwide decongestion exercise at the various prisons beginning from the Central region.
In August, the Interior Minister proposed the establishment of non-custodian sentences, as part of measures to help decongest the country’s prisons.
The Chief Justice also asked judges not to unnecessarily expose petty young offenders to those inhumane treatment.