49-year-old Prison Service Act has outlived its relevance – Isaac Egyir
The existing Jail Service Act is outdated, and a new advanced strategy is needed to deal with prison management and ever-changing crime, according to Isaac K. Egyir, Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service.
Mr Egyir stressed the necessity of shelving the present 49-year-old Prison Service Act in favour of a holistic document that also meets evolving demands of Prison officials, advocating for quick steps to finalize a new Prison bill that has been written.
Criminal activities according to the Director-General are on the upsurge with increasing sophistication in the modes of committing a crime. Therefore, it is imperative to constantly ensure that the key preventive state agencies and other players in the criminal justice system are strengthened and equipped with the relevant skills and resources.
He emphasized that the Prison Service is an important aspect of the justice system and that it cannot function successfully without an enabling legal framework.
“With the vision of conforming to international standards and best practices in corrections management, this places an urgent demand on the service to work towards the adoption of modern norms in correctional administration,” he noted.
While speaking at a two-day external stakeholders consultation on the new bill, Mr Egyir said the policy paper would allow the service to fit into shifting changes in correctional service delivery if adopted.
“As part of interventions to solve overcrowding in prisons is the introduction of parole under the bill. The concept of parole-based corrections is an endeavour to facilitate the integration and acceptance of deserving inmates back into society whilst at the same time maintaining criminal responsibilities,” he added.
Parole is a term that refers to a prisoner’s conditional release. The prisoner is released, but he or she must fulfil a series of obligations. If a parolee does not obey the rules, he or she may be sent back to prison.
Overcrowding in Ghana’s prisons has come from the lack of parole and alternative sentencing, generating worries among the prison hierarchy.
In Ghana’s legal system, convicts charged with a misdemeanour or petty crime face heavy penalties, including incarceration and restricted prospects for reform.
Audra Lykos, a representative from USAID’s democracy, human rights, and governance office, noted that, despite Ghana’s ranking of 0.57 in the 2020 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, the justice delivery sector faces significant challenges that must be addressed.
Ghana was ranked 6th out of 36 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, putting it first among lower-middle-income countries with high scores in advancing the rule of law in governance processes.
Ms Lykos disclosed that most Ghanaian Prisons house roughly 55 per cent more inmates than they were designed to hold.
She added, “These are the difficult circumstances that the Ghana Prison Service is navigating using the guiding act, the Prison Service Bill 1972″.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
